TCS shows resilience

TCS is showing a lot of resilience despite the not-so-good news coming in from the US Supreme Court.

The stock, which had closed yesterday at Rs.3510.30, opened 0.5% lower at Rs.3492 and went down further to an intraday low at Rs.3481, down 1% but soon recovered from there and is now trading in the green at Rs.3513.

The company announced yesterday after market hours that in the EPIC Systems Corporation matter, the United States Supreme Court on November 20, 2023 rejected the company’s petition to file an appeal against the orders passed by the US Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit, which confirmed the punitive damages award of $140 million passed by the District Court of Wisconsin.

The company intends to make the balance provision of approximately $125 million in its financial statements as an exceptional item, for the third quarter and nine months ending December 31, 2023.

EPIC had filed the lawsuit against TCS in 2014, alleging it had stolen its intellectual property while it was contracted to implement EPIC's healthcare software.

EPIC had originally secured a $940 million award against TCS from in 2016, stated to be one of the biggest trade secret verdicts in U.S. history. Then in 2017, it has more than halved to $420 million - of which $140 million comprised compensatory damages and $280 million was punitive.  TCS made an appeal and in 2022, punitive damages were lowered to $140 million.