A building occupied by Teleperformance in the Makati financial district of Manila
Teleperformance said Monday that it was now targeting annual revenue growth at the bottom of the previously announced range, citing a “demanding environment” and the reduction in budgets of many American companies.
“The environment remains demanding with on the one hand many American companies reducing their budgets and on the other hand the change in consumer behavior following the Covid crisis,” said CEO Daniel Julien in a press release.
The French call center specialist is targeting an organic growth target of around 6% for 2023, compared to a previous forecast of like-for-like revenue growth excluding “Covid contracts” of between 6% and 8%.
This is the third downward revision of the group’s organic growth objectives, which previously anticipated an increase of 10%, before reducing it in the first and then the second quarter.
The company also reported third-quarter revenue of €1.99 billion, compared to €2.06 billion recorded in the same period last year, but up 4%. on a like-for-like basis excluding Covid contracts.
Teleperformance also expects to benefit from “a new springboard for solid growth in the years to come” through the acquisition of Majorel, finalized on November 3. The company bought back 99.9% of the shares for 3 billion euros, and announced on Friday the implementation of the squeeze-out procedure to force the sale of the last remaining shares.
Proforma, Teleperformance will have “a turnover of more than 10 billion euros” after the acquisition, declared Daniel Julien.
Teleperformance expects the merger to result in a cost reduction of 100 to 150 million euros. Chief Financial Officer Olivier Rigaudy told reporters the cuts would take effect over the next 18 to 24 months.
The group started the year with a big push into generative artificial intelligence, announcing that 20-30% of its activities would be automated over the next three years. He then lowered his expectations due to customer reluctance and analysts’ growing skepticism towards this new technology.
(Report by Gaëlle Sheehan and Victor Goury-Laffont, French version by Gaëlle Sheehan, edited by Kate Entringer)