Quess Corp Limited has initiated the remittance of its final dividend for the financial year ended March 31, 2026. The payout amounts to ₹3 per equity share.

The dividend was approved by members at the company’s 19th Annual General Meeting held on August 25, 2026. It represents a payout rate of 30% on the face value of ₹10 per share.

Payment Details

The company has credited the dividend to shareholders whose names appeared in the Register of Members or depository records as on the record date of August 7, 2026. Payments were made after deducting applicable taxes at source (TDS).

Tax and Compliance

TDS was deducted based on residential status and supporting documents submitted by shareholders. The deduction includes tax, surcharge, and cess as applicable under the Income Tax Act, 2025. Shareholders can view TDS details via Form 168 on the Income Tax e-filing portal.

Eligible members may claim a refund of the deducted tax from the Income Tax Authorities. Queries regarding non-credit or discrepancies should be directed to the Registrar & Share Transfer Agent, MUFG Intime India Private Limited.

Quess Corp Limited shareholders approved a total dividend of ₹11 per share and reappointed Ajit Isaac as director at its 19th Annual General Meeting on August 25, 2026. The meeting featured a detailed transcript revealing the company’s strategic pivot towards higher-margin professional staffing and international talent corridors.

The meeting was conducted via Video Conferencing / Other Audio-Visual Means (OAVM) in compliance with Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) circulars and SEBI Listing Regulations. A total of 56 members were present to satisfy the quorum requirement under Section 103 of the Companies Act, 2013. Mr. Gopalakrishnan Soundarajan, Non-Executive Director, was absent.

Voting Results Overview

The scrutinizer’s report, submitted by Pradeep B Kulkarni of V Sreedharan & Associates, confirmed that voting rights were reckoned as on August 18, 2026. The remote e-voting window opened on August 21, 2026, and closed on August 24, 2026. A total of 116,948,697 votes were polled out of 149,359,849 shares held by 100,190 shareholders on the record date, representing a 78.30% participation rate for ordinary business resolutions.

Promoter group holdings stood at 84,864,211 shares. The promoter group voted 100% in favor of all resolutions, casting no votes against any agenda item. Public non-institutional shareholders also showed near-unanimous support, with over 99.99% approval for most resolutions. However, public institutional investors registered significant dissent on the adoption of financial statements.

Resolution-wise Voting Breakdown

Shareholders voted to adopt both the standalone and consolidated audited financial statements for the financial year ended March 31, 2026. The independent statutory auditor’s report contained a modified opinion regarding certain tax deductions claimed by the Company and disallowed by the Income Tax Authority. The Company has challenged this disallowance in a judicial forum and believes it is probable that these deductions will be accepted upon ultimate resolution. The secretarial audit report for FY25-26 reported no material issues.

The dividend structure approved by the members includes:

Financial Performance FY26

Chairman Ajit Isaac presented the company’s financial performance for FY26, noting that consolidated revenue rose 2% YoY to ₹15,305 crore. EBITDA grew 19% YoY to ₹312 crore, expanding margins by 20 bps to 2.0%. Adjusted PAT increased 10% YoY to ₹230 crore, while adjusted EPS rose 9% to ₹15.4 per share.

The company ended the fiscal year with a net cash position of ₹271 crore after fully repaying gross debt. Return on equity stood at 20%. The workforce expanded to 478,594 associates and employees.

Segment Performance

General Staffing remained the scale engine, contributing 97% of total headcount (465,000+) and 50% of operating profit. Revenue from this segment grew 1% YoY to ₹13,176 crore, though operating profit declined 3% to ₹189 crore due to a softer hiring environment in banking and retail.

Professional Staffing, described as the margin engine, saw revenue surge 13% YoY to ₹930 crore and operating profit jump 44% to ₹111 crore. Global Capability Centres (GCCs) now account for more than 70% of Professional Staffing headcount and close to 70% of its revenue. Overseas Business revenue grew 5% to ₹1,197 crore with operating profit up 22% to ₹77 crore. Together, Professional Staffing and Overseas contributed 50% of operating profit in FY26, up from 42% in FY25.

Q1 FY27 Update

The Chairman highlighted a strong start to FY27, with Q1 revenue rising 15% YoY to ₹4,182 crore. EBITDA grew 21% to ₹85 crore, and PAT surged 61% to ₹82 crore. Headcount reached 482,214 associates. The quarter included a one-time revenue increase of ₹176 crore on account of the new Labour Code and an income tax refund relating to earlier years.

Strategic Outlook: Quess 2.0

Management outlined "Quess 2.0," aiming to increase high-margin, dollar-linked revenue from 7% to over 20% in the next three to four years. Key priorities include:

• Deepening core business with a shift towards Construction, Manufacturing, and Value-Added Services.
• Building international talent corridors, starting with a signed MOU with Japan for two-way talent mobility.
• Supporting GCCs in India across their full lifecycle.
• Using AI to lift productivity, leveraging an AI-powered applicant tracking system against a pool of over 10 million profiles.

Board Appointments

The AGM addressed two director-related resolutions:

• Re-appointment of Mr. Ajit Isaac (DIN: 00087168) as a director liable to retire by rotation.
• Appointment of Mr. Anish Thurthi (DIN: 08713000) as a Non-Executive Director.

Both resolutions received overwhelming support from public non-institutional shareholders (>99.99%). Public institutional investors voted 97.02% in favor of Ajit Isaac’s re-appointment and 98.15% in favor of Anish Thurthi’s appointment.

Director Profiles

Ajit Isaac

Mr. Ajit Isaac, founder of Quess, has spent over two decades building leading enterprises in India's business services sector. Under his leadership, Quess has expanded to a workforce of over 479,000, generating around $2.5 billion in revenues. He is a gold medalist in PG-HR and British Chevening Scholar from Leeds University. He currently serves on the Board of Karnataka Technology, Innovation Museum Foundation and Governor at St. Joseph's University, Bangalore.

Anish Thurthi

Mr. Anish Thurthi is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years of experience in investment management, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), and financial advisory. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Bangalore University. He currently serves as a Director at Fairbridge Capital Private Limited, an investment advisory firm managing investments for Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited. Prior to this, he was a Partner in the Deal Advisory practice of KPMG India for over 13 years.

What the Numbers Show

The shift in profit mix is notable: while General Staffing accounts for 97% of headcount, it contributed only 50% of operating profit. Conversely, Professional Staffing and Overseas operations, comprising just 2.8% of total headcount, generated the remaining 50% of operating profit. This highlights the significant margin disparity between the volume-driven general staffing business and the higher-value professional and international segments. The growth in EBITDA (19%) outpaced revenue growth (2%), driven by this structural shift towards higher-margin GCC and overseas roles.

Meeting Proceedings

Mr. Ajit Isaac chaired the session, which commenced at 3:30 pm and concluded at 4:45 pm IST. Members participated in remote e-voting via the Central Depository Services (India) Limited (CDSL) platform.

Key managerial personnel present included CFO Neeraj Jain and Company Secretary Kundan K Lal. Statutory auditors from Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP and secretarial auditor Parameshwar G Bhat also attended. Scrutinizer Pradeep B Kulkarni oversaw the e-voting process.

The company provided electronic access to statutory registers for member inspection during the meeting. Proxy appointments were not applicable due to the virtual format.