(Reuters) – Call center group Teleperformance, facing increased competition from artificial intelligence (AI), announced on Wednesday an organic growth target of between 2% and 4% for 2024, down from 2023, explaining that it is adopting a cautious approach, particularly for the first part of the year.
Teleperformance had a difficult 2023, during which it lowered its annual organic growth forecast three times. This stands at 5.1% in 2023, excluding Covid contracts and hyperinflation treatment, against a target of around 6% after the last lowering of the outlook in November.
“All the main players have significantly reduced their forecasts,” declared the group’s financial director, Olivier Rigaudy, during a press conference, referring to an unfavorable macroeconomic environment. “We are cautious,” he added.
Teleperformance shares collapsed last month on the Paris Stock Exchange, operators having mentioned the deployment by its competitor Klarna of a voice assistant based on artificial intelligence (AI).
Olivier Rigaudy attributed the plunge to a misunderstanding of how AI is integrated into the group’s solutions, adding that Klarna’s tool was simply “conversational”.
Teleperformance, which launched a 500 million euro share buyback program in August, does not rule out other programs later if the share price continues to suffer.
“If we were massively undervalued for reasons that seem largely exaggerated to us, and therefore if things do not change, which could happen, (…) then the group will continue its program (…) of buying back “shares aggressively up to 2/3 of its cash flow,” said Olivier Rigaudy.
Growth in activity should remain limited in the first quarter of 2024, given a very unfavorable basis of comparison and an environment which remains volatile, the group said.
Over the whole of 2024, Teleperformance targets an increase in the EBITA margin rate on a pro forma basis, including the acquisition of Majorel, of between 10 basis points and 20 basis points, as well as an increase in cash flow. net available.
The company’s turnover reached 8.35 billion euros in 2023, compared to 8.41 billion expected on average by analysts, according to LSEG.
Current EBITA stands at 1.29 billion euros in 2023, compared to 1.26 billion in 2022.
(Written by Diana Mandiá, with Agustin Turpin, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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