Nisha Chandrasekaran
Manager of External Communications

Welcome, everyone, to Wipro’s First Quarter Earnings Press Conference. For those of us who are joining virtually, good morning, good afternoon, good evening.

My name is Nisha Chandrasekaran, and I will be your moderator for today. Joining me on stage is our Chief Financial Officer, Aparna Iyer; our Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Srini Pallia; and our Chief Human Resources Officer, Saurabh Govil. We will begin with opening remarks from our CEO, followed by a financial review from our CFO. Post that, we’ll open the floor for your questions.

With that, let me invite our CEO and Managing Director, Srini Pallia.

Srinivas Pallia
CEO, MD, Executive Director & Member of Executive Board

Good evening, everyone. I see a lot of familiar faces. Thank you for joining us today. Let me start with a quick view of the broader market that we see, and I’m sure you’re also following what’s going on in the market. The macro environment remains resilient. But of course, there are uncertainties, which continue to shape decision-making for our clients. Technology investments, however, has not slowed. They have become more focused. Our clients continue to invest in AI, data, cloud, modernization, cybersecurity and also productivity-led transformation at an organization level. Spending today is measured with more rigor and longer decision cycles. The AI disruption is expanding the market, but not shrinking it. But at the same time, conversations around AI are becoming very intense. You all heard about the tokenization.

Patricia Bueno
Global Head of Shareholder & Investor Relations

Good afternoon, and welcome, everyone, to this new edition of BBVA Strategic talks, which today will be focused on BBVA Research views on the global macro environment and the outlook for our core markets.

It’s my pleasure to be joined today by Jorge Sicilia, BBVA’s Chief Economist, together with Miguel Cardoso, Carlos Serrano and Seda Güler, Chief Economist for BBVA of Spain, Mexico and Turkey. Here with me in Madrid are Jorge and Miguel and connected from Mexico and Turkey, we have Carlos and Seda as well.

Today, the team will start sharing their views on the latest economic developments and key challenges and opportunities in our core markets. After the presentations, we will open the line to take your questions in a live Q&A session. As we are currently in our blackout period, I will kindly request you to limit your questions to macro and financial system-related topics. Unfortunately, we will not be able today to address any topic related to the bank’s performance. So thank you in advance for your understanding.

In any case, I hope you will find this session useful and I strongly encourage you to participate and make the most of it given the expertise and on-the-ground knowledge of BBVA economic team

Kesha has one of the most unusual collections in pop music: more than 1,000 human teeth, mailed to her by fans over more than a decade, that she has since turned into jewelry, a bra top and a full headdress.

The singer, known for hits including “TiK ToK,” “Timber” and “Praying,” has spoken publicly about the collection for years, most recently addressing it again in interviews where she explained why she continues to hold onto the teeth and what she has made from them.

“I made a necklace, an earring and then a belt and then a crown,” Kesha said, describing the pieces she has crafted from the real teeth sent in by supporters.

The hobby dates back to at least 2012, when Kesha, then performing as Ke$ha, first asked fans to mail her their teeth. She has said the response was overwhelming. “I asked for them to send me their teeth and I got, like, over 1,000 human teeth,” she told interviewers at the time. “I made it into a bra top, and a headdress, and earrings and necklaces. I’ve worn it out!”

Kesha has since described the origins of the collection as tied to her closeness with her fan base rather than any singular artistic plan. Appearing on the “Las Culturistas” podcast, she recalled how the idea began almost by accident. “The teeth started when I became obsessed with my fans and then someone was like, ‘My child lost their teeth,’ and I was like, ‘Can I have them?’” she said.

Rather than let baby teeth or extracted teeth go to waste, Kesha has framed the collection as a form of reuse. “Do you flush them down the toilet? Where are they going? Give them to me. Can I actually have them? It’s not a drill, not a joke,” she said, before adding with a laugh, “I am a pop star and I need your teeth.”

She has also acknowledged that the collection tends to unsettle some people, saying she enjoys the reaction it draws. “Then I just started collecting them because it kind of freaks out straight men,” she said in the same interview.

Beyond the shock value, Kesha has described a more personal motivation for keeping the teeth. In an appearance on “Call Her Daddy” earlier this year, she explained that the collection has become a way of holding onto small physical connections to people she cares about. “It just reminds me when I have a little piece of the people I love,” she said.

That sentiment extends beyond her human fans. Kesha said she also keeps teeth from her own cats after veterinary procedures. “I have my cats, they had to get their little teeth taken out. They’re little kitty wisdom teeth. I collect those too,” she said.

The teeth collection is not the only unconventional keepsake in Kesha’s life. During the same “Call Her Daddy” conversation, she revealed that her mother, Rosemary, had saved her placenta after giving birth to her, storing it in the family’s basement for roughly two decades before Kesha eventually had it turned into a piece of jewelry.

Kesha’s fascination with the material history of the body has occasionally intersected with more difficult periods in her life. In January 2014, while in treatment for an eating disorder, a friend used Kesha’s social media account to thank fans for their support and, on the singer’s behalf, put out a renewed call for teeth to continue the project while she was in the facility. A message posted at the time said she was “doing well and needs more of your teeth to make art with at the treatment center.” According to later reporting, the treatment center was ultimately unable to accept packages containing real human teeth due to biohazard concerns, though fans were told that packages of fake teeth would be accepted instead.

Kesha has continued to display pieces from the collection throughout her home and has periodically shown them off publicly, including photos of the teeth headdress she wore to promote her 2012 album “Warrior.” A limited jewelry line built around the concept, called Kesha Rose, later sold out several of its pieces, including items made using real teeth sent in by fans following her original request.

The singer’s willingness to keep revisiting the topic in interviews, more than a decade after she first asked fans to mail her their teeth, has kept the collection a recurring point of fascination for both longtime followers and new audiences discovering the story for the first time. It has also become something of a signature quirk for an artist whose career has long embraced the unconventional, from glitter-caked album art to lyrics celebrating chaos and excess.

Kesha’s broader career has continued to grow alongside the collection’s notoriety. She has scored two number-one albums on the Billboard 200 with “Animal” and “Rainbow,” and has landed ten top-ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including “TiK ToK,” “Right Round” with Flo Rida, “Blah Blah Blah,” “Your Love Is My Drug,” “Take It Off,” “We R Who We R,” “Blow,” “Die Young” and “Timber” with Pitbull.

For now, Kesha shows no sign of retiring the hobby. Between the human teeth, the cat teeth and the other unusual keepsakes scattered through her home, the singer has built a collection that doubles as both an art project and, by her own account, a way of staying close to the people and animals she loves — one discarded tooth at a time.

This story touches on eating disorder recovery. If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available through the National Alliance for Eating Disorders helpline.

ET Intelligence Group: The logistics sector is expected to post a healthy revenue growth in the June quarter, driven by sustained demand from e-commerce and quick-commerce channels, rising supply-chain outsourcing, and improving freight activity across segments. Volume growth, network expansion and customer additions are likely to support top line performance for most companies.

However, elevated fuel costs, pricing pressure in select segments and integration-related expenses are expected to weigh on profitability, resulting in a mixed margin outlook across the sector.

Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) is expected to deliver healthy quarter led by 8% growth in import-export volumes and 15% growth in domestic volumes. It could face realisation pressure and domestic bottlenecks, although gradual traction in dedicated freight corridor (DFC) supports efficiency gains. While operating margin before depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda margin) is expected to improve driven by recovery in domestic business, its extent may be limited given the weakness on pricing front.

Delhivery‘s revenue is expected to rise in double digits led by volume growth, consolidation of Ecom Express, continued expansion in express parcel and PTL businesses. However, realisation per shipment may decline in express parcel due to rising lower valued orders in the mix. Integration expenses, higher fuel costs and employee expenses may weigh on margins in the near term. Net profit is expected to decline due to cost pressure and added integration costs.
For Blue Dart Express, revenue is likely to grow in mid-single digit supported by volume growth across both air and surface express segments. Analysts expect Ebitda margins to improve aided by pricing discipline, network optimisation and better realisations. Diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices will be key factors influencing profitability and margins.

TCI’s revenue may rise in double digits led by the supply chain and freight segments. Over the medium term, the company expects supply chain revenue to grow 13-15%, supported by a healthy contract pipeline and continued demand for warehousing services. Key monitorables include the pace of freight volume recovery, the ability to pass on higher fuel costs to customers and margin performance in the seaways business amid elevated bunker fuel prices.

ET Intelligence Group: Wipro reported sustained momentum in order bookings and large deal wins for the June quarter. However, its revenue fell 1.4% sequentially to $2,614.5 million after a marginal improvement seen in the previous three quarters while operating margin contracted by 130 basis points to 16%, the lowest since the December 2023 quarter when it was at the same level. The country’s fourth largest software exporter continued to show weakness in execution as clients took more time to roll out projects.

The company’s management iterated in a post-result media call that it did not notice any material change in demand scenario from the previous quarter. In addition, the deal flow worth $3,370 million during the June quarter was supported by cost optimisation drive and vendor consolidation by clients. In this backdrop, its September quarter guidance continues to be cautious as it expects revenue to either drop by 1.5% or improve marginally by 0.5% sequentially. This spells no respite for the stock, which has fallen by 15% since April 16 when the company declared the March quarter numbers.

Notwithstanding the short term growth challenges, the company’s annual revenue trend has started looking less bleak, helped by a steady flow of orders and a series of acquisitions. The extent of revenue decline moderated significantly to 0.3% in FY26 from 3.2% in FY24. Additionally, the year-on-year difference in the trailing 12 month (TTM) revenue turned positive at $32 million in June quarter for the first time in 11 quarters. To retain this trend reversal in the coming quarters, Wipro will require to speed up project ramp ups. The management stated that project execution has taken speed in some of the recently won large deal wins. This will be a key factor to monitor in the near term.

Unlike the larger peers including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and HCL Technologies (HCLTech), Wipro has not yet committed any capital expenditure (capex) in creating its own data centre capacity. Instead, it has been focussing on the designing and deploying solutions for clients through partnerships in the artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem. While this approach prevents any short term stress on the balance sheet arising from debt arrangements required for the AI related capex, investors would keenly watch the effectiveness of different AI strategies over the next few quarters.
At Thursday’s closing price of ₹177.8 on the BSE, Wipro’s stock traded at a trailing price-earnings (P/E) multiple of 13.4. It is at a discount to the 10-year average multiple of over 18, reflecting weak investor sentiment. A revival in the valuation depends upon the how quickly the company’s revenue and profitability improve.

Asian stocks edged lower after a selloff in chipmakers dragged down Wall Street as investors questioned whether massive artificial-intelligence investments can justify lofty valuations. Oil climbed.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.3%, with declines in Japan and Australia. South Korea is closed for a public holiday. Contracts on the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.5% after the underlying gauge lost 1.6% on Thursday. Also weighing on sentiment was Netflix Inc., whose shares fell over 8% in extended trading after forecasting a second straight quarter of slowing sales growth.

In a renewed bout of volatility Thursday, a US gauge of chip giants slumped more than 4% as investors questioned whether tech stocks have grown too richly valued amid massive capex plans. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s American depositary receipts dropped 2% as a solid outlook was overshadowed by a higher spending forecast.

Elsewhere, Brent recouped some of the previous session’s losses as hostilities across the Middle East continued to escalate and shipping traffic slumped in the Strait of Hormuz. The commodity traded just under $85 a barrel. Government bonds edged lower in Australia and New Zealand, while Treasuries were steady.

“The action in the chip stocks going forward is still the most important issue for the stock market,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak. “They are definitely showing some meaningful cracks, so they’re going to have to see a strong and sustainable rebound soon or it will raise some real warning flags.”

Heightened geopolitical tension helped keep a lid on risk appetite and pushed oil prices higher this week, fueling concerns about inflationary pressures that could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates before the year is over. Treasury yields edged higher Thursday and the dollar notched modest gains.
Fed Bank of Kansas City President Jeff Schmid said inflation is his biggest worry given the risk of a further acceleration in the months ahead. His Dallas counterpart Lorie Logan called for higher rates, saying inflation does not appear to be heading sustainably back to the target.Traders also parsed key economic reports. Jobless claims fell last week while retail sales rose modestly in June, dragged down by a drop in gas-station receipts that masked strong gains at some merchants.

“Despite challenges, consumers are still spending and the labor market shows no signs of cracking,” said Ellen Zentner at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. “This type of data won’t move the Fed’s needle either way, but it underscores the ongoing resilience of the US economy.”

LeBron James’s search for a new NBA home is entering its final stretch, with league insiders reporting that every team still in the running has now made its formal pitch to the four-time champion and his camp is simply waiting for him to make up his mind.

James informed the Los Angeles Lakers last month that he intends to play his 24th NBA season with a different franchise, ending an eight-year run in Los Angeles that included a championship in the pandemic-shortened 2020 bubble season. Lakers governor Jeanie Buss addressed the departure in a statement, calling James “one of the greatest athletes in history” and adding, “We will always be thankful for his eight years with the Lakers — including the title he led us to in 2020 under the toughest imaginable circumstances and the countless records he broke in purple and gold. We wish him all the best in the future, both on the court and off. He will always be a cherished part of the Lakers family.”

James responded on social media, writing that it was “truly a honor to wear” the Lakers’ colors and adding, “I hope I made a few proud during my stint.”

Since then, the 41-year-old has become the biggest remaining piece on the free agent board, with his decision expected to set off a chain reaction across the league. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported this week that the presentation process has wrapped for every interested team. “The voice notes have all been listened to, the rosters are set, the decks are all laid out,” Charania said. “We’ll see when he’s ready to make his decision.”

The Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves have emerged as the group of finalists most frequently cited by league insiders, according to multiple reports. James’s agent, Rich Paul, told reporters last week that he had spoken with 27 teams on his client’s behalf, including Golden State, Cleveland and Miami — the three organizations James has played for at some point in his career.

A source familiar with James’s thinking told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that the star wants to play “meaningful, competitive basketball” wherever he lands next, suggesting he remains focused on contending for a fifth championship rather than simply picking the highest bidder or the most comfortable situation.

Golden State’s pursuit has been complicated by roster mechanics and, according to some reports, internal uncertainty about its odds. Andscape’s Marc J. Spears said on ESPN’s “NBA Today” that Warriors decision-makers have grown less confident in their chances. “I’m kind of hearing today that the Warriors internally kind of feel like they’re a dark horse at this point, that LeBron James is probably going out East,” Spears said. Still, Golden State has kept its books open, and Draymond Green declined his $27.6 million player option earlier this month in part to preserve the team’s financial flexibility to pursue James and a possible trade for Washington Wizards forward Anthony Davis, James’s former Lakers teammate. “Personally, I’m always willing to work with the team on whatever is best, especially at this point in my career,” Green said on his podcast, explaining his decision to opt out. “I’ve always taken the approach of working with the organization. I’ve been in one place for 14 years. It’s more of a family to me than anything.”

Warriors star Stephen Curry, who played alongside James on the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team in 2024, has also made his case publicly. “The pitch is: Do you want to play good basketball and be around people who know how to play the game?” Curry said. “Hopefully raise our floor, our competitiveness this year. There’s good golf in the Bay.”

The Cavaliers, meanwhile, are widely viewed as offering James a storybook homecoming to the franchise where he began his career and later delivered Cleveland its first NBA title in 2016. James has played 1,001 regular-season and playoff games for the organization across two stints, and his offseason home outside Akron sits an easy drive from the team’s practice facility. Cleveland bolstered its case for contention this offseason by locking up guard Donovan Mitchell to a four-year, $273 million maximum extension.

Miami, James’s other former team, presents a different kind of pitch: pairing him with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo in what would be one of the most physically imposing frontcourts in league history, backed by the coaching staff of Erik Spoelstra, Pat Riley and Andy Elisburg.

Attention has increasingly turned to timing. James is scheduled to appear at the 2026 Fanatics Fest at the Javits Center in New York City, running from Thursday, July 16, through Sunday, July 19, alongside a roster of major sports figures including Tom Brady, Serena Williams and David Beckham. James is also set to host a live episode of his “Mind the Game” podcast at the event on July 16 and 17 with special co-host Tyrese Haliburton, fueling speculation among insiders that the podcast could double as the venue for his announcement — a format that would fit James’s history of controlling the rollout of his major career decisions, from his 2010 television special to a 2014 first-person essay and a 2018 social media post.

Not everyone expects a straightforward outcome. Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks predicted during an appearance on the “NBA 2K League” broadcast that James would ultimately land with Golden State, offering one of several public guesses that have circulated as the decision drags into the middle of July. Meanwhile, questions remain about how the move could affect James’s son, Bronny, a member of the Lakers’ roster, with reports suggesting his situation may not necessarily be tied to his father’s choice.

For now, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer remains the league’s biggest domino still standing in an offseason that has already reshaped several rosters, with teams like the Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Heat, 76ers and Warriors left waiting to see whether their pitches were enough to convince James to keep chasing championships somewhere new.