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DESPITE a strong peso, eTelecare Global Solutions announced on
Friday that its profit last year surged on increasing demand for
offshore services in the Philippines.
In its disclosure to the Philippine Stock
Exchange, the business process outsourcing (BPO) firm said its full
year income in 2007 jumped 88.5 percent to $23 million year on year,
or $0.79 per diluted share on 29.3 million outstanding shares. In
2006, it registered earnings of $0.50 per diluted share on 24.5
million shares outstanding.
Revenues for the period went up by 33 percent to
$259.9 million versus the previous year, with the Nasdaq-listed BPO
company bringing in $71 million in revenues during the fourth
quarter alone. The three-month revenues were 21 percent more than
the prior year’s level, allowing eTelecare to book a higher net
income of $7 million, 52 percent up year on year.
“Record fourth-quarter revenues, driven by
continuing demand for offshore services in the Philippines,
contributed to the strongest top-line performance in the company’s
history and supported 18 percent growth in operating income, to a
record $22.6 million for the year,” John Harris, eTelecare
president and chief executive, said.
The executive said that operating margins were
affected by the company’s expansion of technology infrastructure
and site expansion in the Philippines. These expenditures, which
include the new Annex@ Shaw facility that placed 1,000 seats, are
expected to expand eTelecare’s operating margins this year. The
new facility would be operating at full capacity by the fourth
quarter.
The firm had a working capital of $62.1 million
including the $35.1 million in cash and stockholders’ equity of
$133 million and was debt-free last year.
By the end of this year, eTelecare expects its
revenues to climb by a maximum of 19 percent to $310 million and its
net income hitting $16 million to $19 million. To come up with this
guidance, the firm has already taken into account the peso’s
appreciation—which strengthened by 20 percent against the
greenback the past two years—and anticipates to reap the benefits
of a hedging program. eTelecare also expects expenses to be $24
million higher than what would have been if the foreign exchange
stayed at 2006 levels.
-- Likha C. Cuevas-Miel
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