Kyndryl Holdings Inc Q4 2021 Earnings Call Summary

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Tien-Tsin Huang - JPMorgan Chase & Co. - Analyst : (technical difficulty) Yeah, sorry about that. I don't know what happened. Good morning. Thanks for the slides. It's great to see this and go through it here. I'll ask about signings, if you don't mind. So just simplistically looking at book to bills, looks like 0.95, 0.96, here in the fourth quarter. I heard David, your comments around some of the framework to think about signings. It looks like double-digits for this year and a little bit of a slow burn into the revenue. But just maybe anything to consider, or think about visibility on signings, anything interesting from a new logo versus existing client side? And then just the signings in relation to revenue retention. Any thoughts there as we sort of get into a rhythm of thinking about signings in relation to revenue?

Question: Tien-Tsin Huang - JPMorgan Chase & Co. - Analyst : Okay, great. That's clear. Thank you. I had a second question, but happy to jump on the queue, if you prefer.

Question: Millie Wu - Evercore Group LLC - Analyst : Hi. This is Millie Wu on for David Togut. Good morning, and thank you for taking the question. (technical difficulty) Okay. I'll just have a question on capital allocation strategy. So can you give us your latest update on how you're thinking about it? And could dividend be considered within the next 12 months?

Question: Millie Wu - Evercore Group LLC - Analyst : And how you are thinking about M&A.

Question: Jamie Friedman - Susquehanna Financial Group, LLP - Analyst : I wanted to ask about the partnerships. So Kyndryl signed a flurry of these recent partnerships: Azure, AWS, Google, many others. I was wondering if you could describe at a high level some of the mechanics. How do these typically work? Are they go-to-market relationships? Is there training for KD employees? Is there a revenue share? Just some color around the partnerships. I would appreciate it.

Question: Tien-Tsin Huang - JPMorgan Chase & Co. - Analyst : I am, if you can hear me.

Question: Tien-Tsin Huang - JPMorgan Chase & Co. - Analyst : I just wanted to ask on advanced delivery; I thought that was really interesting. The upskilling and automation makes sense. I understand the $200 million initial cost savings. I'm just curious how -- and I'm not expecting you to preannounce a bigger number in the out years, but how much further can you take that in terms of potential from a cost perspective? And then also from a revenue implications, or revenue per employee implications, any consideration there that you upskill and automate? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MARCH 01, 2022 / 1:30PM, KD.N - Q4 2021 Kyndryl Holdings Inc Earnings Call

Question: Millie Wu - Evercore Group LLC - Analyst : Sorry about the lag on the line earlier. But I just have kind of a follow-up in terms of margins. So in 4Q 2021, you guys had 14% or about 15% of adjusted EBITDA margin. Kind of what drove the decline in margin expectation in your first-quarter 2022 guide?