IBEX Limited Notice of the 2022 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, Proxy Statement, 2021 Financial Statements and Auditor’s Report and Form of Proxy Card
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Date: February 23, 2022
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IBEX LIMITED
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By:
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/s/ Christy O’Connor
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Name:
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Christy O’Connor
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Title:
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Chief Legal Officer
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1. |
To confirm or elect a chairman for the AGM and confirm a secretary for the meeting.
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2. |
To read the notice convening the AGM and to confirm that a quorum is present.
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3. |
To receive the minutes of the previous annual general meeting held on 11 March 2021.
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4. |
To receive the auditor’s report and financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2021.
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5. |
To appoint Deloitte & Touche LLP as the Company’s auditor for the ensuing year and either determine their remuneration or refer such determination to the Board.
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6. |
To consider the election of directors of the Company (the “Directors”, each a “Director”) for the ensuing year as follows:
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(a) |
determine the number of Directors;
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(b) |
elect Directors for the ensuing year;
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(c) |
confer general authority on the Board to fill vacancies, if any;
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(d) |
confer general authority on the Board to appoint alternate Directors as and when it deems fit; and
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(e) |
consider fees payable to Directors.
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7. |
To ratify and confirm the acts of the Directors and officers of the Company.
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Date: 21 February 2022
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BY ORDER OF THE BOARD
![]() Compass Administration Services Ltd.
Secretary
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1. | To approve the auditor’s report and financial statements for the fiscal year ended 30 June 2021. |
2. |
To appoint Deloitte and Touche LLP as the Company’s auditor for the ensuing year.
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3. |
To delegate the determination of the auditor’s remuneration to the Board of Directors.
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4. |
To set the number of Directors.
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5. |
To confer general authority on the Board of Directors to fill vacancies, if any, until the next AGM.
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6. |
To confer general authority on the Board of Directors to appoint alternate Directors as and when it deems fit.
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7. |
To vote on the election of the Directors and that each such Director be compensated in accordance with their respective Director Agreements between each Director and the Company.
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8. |
To ratify and confirm the acts of the Directors and officers of the Company
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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
Form 20-F
(Mark One)
☐ |
REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
OR
☒ |
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 5(d) OF THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021
OR
☐ |
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
OR
☐ |
SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
Date of event requiring this shell company report
Commission file number 001-38442
IBEX LIMITED
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter
and translation of Registrant’s name into English)
Bermuda
(Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)
Crawford House, 50 Cedar Avenue
Hamilton HM11, Bermuda
(441) 295-6500
(Address of principal executive offices)
Robert Dechant, Chief Executive Officer
IBEX LIMITED
1700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 560
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 580-6200
(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.
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Title of each class |
Trading Symbol(s) |
Name of each exchange on which registered |
Common shares |
IBEX |
Nasdaq Global Market |
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act. None
Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act. None
Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.
18,399,063 common shares, par value $0.000111650536 per share
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.
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☐ Yes |
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☒ No |
If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
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☐ Yes |
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☒ No |
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
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☒ Yes |
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☐ No |
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).
☒ Yes |
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☐ No |
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer ☐ |
Accelerated filer ☐ |
Non-accelerated filer ☒ |
Emerging growth company ☒ |
If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
† |
The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012. |
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.☐
Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:
U.S. GAAP ☐ |
International Financial |
Other ☐ |
If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.
Item 17 ☐ |
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Item 18 ☐ |
If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).
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☐ Yes |
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☒ No |
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1
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MATERIAL MODIFICATIONS TO THE RIGHTS OF SECURITY HOLDERS AND USE OF PROCEEDS |
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PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES BY THE ISSUER AND AFFILIATED PURCHASERS |
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F-1 |
2
INTRODUCTION
Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, all references in this annual report on Form 20-F to the terms “ibex,” “IBEX,” “IBEX Limited,” the “Group,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to IBEX Limited and our wholly-owned subsidiaries for all periods presented in this Form 20-F.
On August 7, 2020, our common shares were listed on the Nasdaq Global Market and began trading under the ticker symbol “IBEX”.
PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Our fiscal year ends on June 30. Our audited consolidated financial statements for the three years ended June 30, 2021 have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”), as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (“IASB”). None of our financial statements were prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”).
Our financial information is presented in U.S. dollars. All references in this annual report on Form 20-F to “$” mean U.S. dollars.
We have made rounding adjustments to some of the figures included in this annual report on Form 20-F. Accordingly, numerical figures shown as totals in some tables may not be an arithmetic aggregation of the figures that preceded them.
3
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This annual report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“Securities Act”), Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (“Exchange Act”) and as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PSLRA”) that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this annual report are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements give our current expectations and projections relating to our financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and business. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements may include words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “plan,” “intend,” “believe,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “can have,” “likely” and other words, the negative forms of such words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of the timing or nature of future operating or financial performance or other events. These statements relate to events that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those listed under “Risk factors,” which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include among others:
● | The developments relating to COVID-19, the Delta variant and others, including the scope and duration of the pandemic and actions taken by federal, state and local governmental authorities in the United States, local governmental authorities in our international sites and our clients in response to the pandemic and the effect on our operations, operating budgets, cash flows and liquidity. |
● | The effect of cyberattacks on our information technology systems. |
● | Our ability to attract new business and retain key clients. |
● | Our ability to enter into multi-year contracts with our clients at appropriate rates. |
● | The potential for our clients or potential clients to consolidate. |
● | Our clients deciding to enter into or further expand their insourcing activities. |
● | Our ability to operate as an integrated company under the IBEX brand. |
● | Our ability to manage portions of our business that have long sales cycles and long implementation cycles that require significant resources and working capital. |
● | Our ability to manage our international operations, particularly in Pakistan and the Philippines and increasingly in Jamaica and Nicaragua. |
● | Our ability to comply with applicable laws and regulations, including those regarding privacy, data protection and information security. |
● | Our ability to manage the inelasticity of our labor costs relative to short-term movements in client demand. |
● | Our ability to realize the anticipated strategic and financial benefits of our relationship with Amazon. |
● | Our ability to recruit, engage, motivate, manage and retain our global workforce. |
● | Our ability to anticipate, develop and implement information technology solutions that keep pace with evolving industry standards and changing client demands. |
4
● | Our ability to maintain and enhance our reputation and brand. |
We derive many of our forward-looking statements from our operating budgets and forecasts, which are based upon many detailed assumptions. While we believe that our assumptions are reasonable, we caution that it is very difficult to predict the impact of known factors, and it is impossible for us to anticipate all factors that could affect our actual results. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations, or cautionary statements, are disclosed under “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this annual report. All written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us, or persons acting on our behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements as well as other cautionary statements that are made from time to time in our other SEC filings and public communications. You should evaluate all forward-looking statements made in this annual report in the context of these risks and uncertainties.
We caution you that the important factors referenced above may not contain all of the factors that are important to you. In addition, we cannot assure you that we will realize the results or developments we expect or anticipate or, even if substantially realized, that they will result in the consequences or affect us or our operations in the way we expect. The forward-looking statements included in this annual report are made only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.
5
PART I
ITEM 1. IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS
Not applicable.
ITEM 2. OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE
Not applicable.
ITEM 3. KEY INFORMATION
ibex is a leading provider of customer support services that helps drive extraordinary customer experiences for the world’s most recognized brands.
We combine our strong heritage of delivering world-class CX operations delivery with best-in-class services and solutions that span omnichannel customer engagement and support, digital marketing and customer experience management to help our clients measure customer sentiment and deliver a superior CX to their end-customers.
Leveraging our proprietary Wave X purpose-built technology platform, company culture and operational excellence, ibex helps more than 125 clients create innovative and differentiated customer experiences to help increase loyalty, enhance brand awareness and drive revenue in an era of rapid change and digital transformation.
See the Business Overview section for more information about ibex here.
A. Selected Financial Data
The following selected consolidated statements of profit or loss and other comprehensive income / (loss) data for fiscal years 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018 and the selected consolidated statement of financial position data as of June 30, 2021 and 2020 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included at the end of this annual report. The selected consolidated statement of financial position data as of June 30, 2019 and 2018 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements not included in this annual report.
Our statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income data for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2018 reflect the disposition of Etelequote Limited to our parent company, The Resource Group International Limited (“TRGI”), on June 26, 2019 and its treatment as a discontinued operation. For more information about our disposition of Etelequote Limited, refer to Note 30.2 of our audited consolidated financial statements included at the end of this annual report.
6
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As of and for the years ended June 30, |
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US$ in thousands, except per share amounts |
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2021 |
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2020 |
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2019 |
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2018 |
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Statements of Profit or Loss and Other Comprehensive Income / (Loss) data |
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Revenue |
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$ |
443,662 |
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$ |
405,135 |
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$ |
368,380 |
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$ |
342,200 |
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Income / (loss) from operations |
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13,799 |
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19,513 |
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6,805 |
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(17,777) |
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Net income / (loss) for the year, continuing operations |
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2,847 |
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7,770 |
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(4,519) |
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(20,870) |
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Net income on discontinued operation, net of tax |
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— |
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— |
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15,484 |
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4,881 |
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Net income / (loss) for the year |
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$ |
2,847 |
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$ |
7,770 |
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$ |
10,965 |
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$ |
(15,881) |
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Earnings / (loss) per share from continuing operations |
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Basic |
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$ |
0.16 |
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$ |
— |
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$ |
— |
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$ |
— |
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Diluted |
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$ |
0.15 |
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$ |
— |
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$ |
(0.36) |
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$ |
(1.85) |
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Earnings / (loss) per share |
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Basic |
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$ |
0.16 |
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$ |
— |
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$ |
— |
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$ |
— |
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Diluted |
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$ |
0.15 |
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$ |
— |
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$ |
— |
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$ |
(1.42) |
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Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding - basic |
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17,649,446 |
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1,176,370 |
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956,835 |
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- |
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Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding - diluted |
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18,384,921 |
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12,936,962 |
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12,461,182 |
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11,195,649 |
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Statement of Financial Position Data |
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Cash and cash equivalents |
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$ |
57,842 |
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$ |
21,870 |
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$ |
8,873 |
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$ |
13,519 |
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Total assets |
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274,287 |
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195,236 |
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188,302 |
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157,081 |
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Borrowings, non-current |
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1,801 |
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3,782 |
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7,184 |
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9,880 |
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Total non-current liabilities |
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87,913 |
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73,435 |
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68,293 |
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12,894 |
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Total liabilities |
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193,628 |
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179,088 |
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179,674 |
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129,128 |
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Share capital |
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2 |
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12 |
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12 |
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12 |
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Total equity |
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$ |
80,659 |
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$ |
16,148 |
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$ |
8,628 |
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$ |
27,953 |
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Dividends declared per common share |
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$ |
— |
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$ |
— |
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$ |
— |
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$ |
— |
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Other Financial and Operating Data:(a) |
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Adjusted net income / (loss) from continuing operations (unaudited) |
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$ |
23,576 |
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$ |
17,049 |
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$ |
2,811 |
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$ |
(10,313) |
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Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations (unaudited) |
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$ |
66,244 |
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$ |
55,241 |
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$ |
38,512 |
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$ |
4,886 |
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Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations margin (unaudited) |
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14.9 |
% |
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13.6 |
% |
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10.5 |
% |
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1.4 |
% |
Free cash flow (unaudited) |
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$ |
5,074 |
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$ |
46,454 |
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$ |
10,231 |
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$ |
(4,146) |
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Net Debt (unaudited) |
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|
54,674 |
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|
84,100 |
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109,380 |
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49,437 |
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(a) | See reconciliation and discussion of non-gaap measures in Item 5. |
B. Capitalization and Indebtedness
Not applicable.
C. Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds
Not applicable.
D. Risk Factors
We are subject to certain risks and uncertainties described below. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only risks we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that are not presently known or are currently deemed immaterial may also impair our business and financial results.
7
Risks Related to Our Business
The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted our business and results of operations. The ultimate impact of COVID-19, the Delta variant and other mutations, on our business, financial condition and results of operations will depend on future developments which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time, including the scope and duration of the pandemic and actions taken by federal, state and local governmental authorities in the United States, governmental authorities in our international sites and our clients in response to the pandemic.
In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, which continues today with the Delta variant and other mutations of the original COVID-19 virus still spreading throughout the world (the “Pandemic”). The Pandemic has had a widespread and detrimental effect on the global economy and has adversely impacted our business and results of operations. We have experienced travel bans, states of emergency, quarantines, lockdowns, “shelter in place” orders, business restrictions and shutdowns in most countries where we operate. While we are unable to accurately predict the full future impact that the Pandemic may have on our results from operations, financial condition, liquidity and cash flows due to numerous uncertainties, including the duration and severity of the Pandemic and its containment measures, our compliance with these measures has impacted our day-to-day operations and disrupted our business. Because the severity, magnitude and duration of the Pandemic and its economic consequences are highly uncertain, rapidly changing and difficult to predict, the ultimate impact of the Pandemic on our business, financial condition and results of operations is currently unknown.
The extent to which the Pandemic continues to adversely impact our business and results of operations will depend on numerous evolving factors that are difficult to predict and outside of our control, including: the duration and scope of the Pandemic; actions taken by governments and other parties, such as our clients, in response to the Pandemic; the impact of the Pandemic on economic activity in various regions and local economic actions taken in response; the continued effect of the Pandemic on our clients and client demand for our services and solutions; the continued ability of our clients to pay for our services and solutions on time or at all; our ability to sell and provide our services and solutions to clients and prospects; and the ability of our employees to successfully work remotely without suffering productivity issues due to, among other things, their own illness or the illness of family members, distractions at home, including family issues or virtual school learning for their children; and/or continued ability to have access to reliable and stable internet connections with sufficient bandwidth.
Pandemic conditions in the Philippines, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Pakistan and the United States still require us to mobilize our operations to deliver our services remotely from the homes of our individual employees to accommodate for social distancing in our sites, government imposed quarantines and other restrictions imposed by national or local governments. These continued efforts still pose numerous operational risks and logistical challenges and has amplified certain risks to our business, including increased demand on our information technology resources and systems that were designed for most of our employees to work from our sites and not remotely, enhanced risk that remote assets like computers or routers might be damaged or not returned, the movement of assets from a tax free zone to a work from home location might trigger new increased taxation, the inability to logistically share equipment and workspaces, increased phishing, ransomware and other cybersecurity attacks as cybercriminals try to exploit the uncertainty surrounding the Pandemic, and increased data privacy and security risks as our employees are working from environments that may be less secure than those of our sites. Any failure to effectively manage these risks, including to timely identify and appropriately respond to any cyberattacks, may adversely affect our business.
8
In addition, certain of our clients have not consented to work-at-home arrangements in connection with the services we deliver to them or are considering eliminating or rolling-back prior work-at-home arrangements. Additionally, certain of our employees remain logistically prohibited from providing services because of broadband and/or work environment deficiencies, and as a result we have been unable to fully staff as needed and to deliver at the same volumes to the same extent we were prior to the onset of the Pandemic. We are also exposed to the risk that additional government-imposed restrictions or frequently changing government-imposed restrictions, such as enhanced quarantine areas, lock downs, and the cessation of transportation, which adversely affect our employees’ ability to access our facilities could disrupt our ability to provide our services and solutions and result in, among other things, terminations of client contracts and losses of revenue or additional costs borne by us to provide temporary housing or transportation to our employees to allow them to access our facilities. Even after implementing social distancing, enhanced cleaning procedures and other mitigating measures, there is no guarantee that we will not have an outbreak of COVID-19 at one of our facilities, resulting in a significantly reduced workforce due to infection or a significant percentage of our workforce in a facility being quarantined due to exposure as a result of contact tracing, or that a governmental authority may close our facility as a result, which could impact cash flows from operations and liquidity. Finally, the revocation or scaling back of work-at-home arrangements prospectively by any clients could also result in loss of revenue in the future.
The significant personal and business challenges presented by the Pandemic, including the potentially life-threatening health risks to employees and their families and friends, the closures of schools and the unavailability of various services our employees may rely upon, such as childcare, continue to be a cause of employee morale concerns and may adversely impact employee productivity and result in increased absenteeism and leaves of absence. Further, as we look to backfill vacant positions and add headcount in preparation for ramp season, our time to fill and cost per hire could increase due to external factors beyond our control.
We may continue to experience reluctance of the workforce to return to the sites during the Pandemic due to concerns related to returning to a communal workplace including, for their own health if they are part of a vulnerable population or have vulnerable family members at home and enhanced federal government unemployment incentives. These factors may make it more difficult for us to encourage our workforce to return to work or hire a sufficient number of employees to support our contractual commitments or may result in higher costs, lower contract profitability, higher turnover and reduced operational efficiencies, which could, in the aggregate, have a material adverse impact on our results of operations. While our employees in the United States were previously designated as essential critical infrastructure workers pursuant to the Guidance from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, there is no guarantee that such designation may not change in the future. Similarly, in some of our non-U.S. locations, certain of our clients in the telecommunications, shipping and delivery and fulfillment services industries were deemed to be essential and by virtue of such designation, our employees were considered to be essential workers. However, there is no guarantee that such designation may not change in the future which may make us more susceptible to the impact of future government restrictions.
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The post-Pandemic social distancing rules and other government mandates may permanently impact the structure and configuration of our sites, where employees work in close proximity. These potential regulatory requirements may force us to make significant capital investments to reconfigure our existing facilities and to accept lower capacity utilization than the utilization priced under our multi-year contracts or to expand our capacity into new space in certain geographies to accommodate our workforce, which may result in increased capital expenditures and a degradation of our gross margin and profitability under the negotiated cost structures for the client. If we are unable to renegotiate our contracts to recoup these additional costs or adjust our cost structure to absorb them, our margins and profitability will be impacted and will result in adverse impact on our results of operations. Our ability to develop and implement agile workforce strategies while navigating sudden and massive workforce shifts may result in increased capital expenditures and a degradation of our gross margin and profitability under the negotiated structures for the client. Furthermore, there may be a significant upward trend in general with respect to labor litigation related to the impact of the Pandemic on the workforce, including workplace safety, Family Medical Leave Act and disability accommodations for vulnerable populations. As a result, this could result in increased claims related to the Pandemic or we may incur increased costs to accommodate the vulnerable population which could, in the aggregate, have an adverse effect on our results of operations. We could also see an increase in health care costs for employees due to emerging regulations regarding COVID-19 testing, telemedicine and extended COBRA coverage. Historically, pandemic conditions have led to sweeping changes in governmental regulations regarding the use and payment of sick time and vacation/leave time, which could have a material adverse effect on our future labor costs. Finally, Pandemic relief legislation may lead to an increase in minimum wage rates, which could also have a material adverse effect on our future labor costs.
The effects of the Pandemic could result in slowed decision-making and delayed planned work by our clients. Our clients may also experience reduced volume to their business as a result of the Pandemic which could result in over-staffing or requests for reduced staffing on certain client accounts. As clients face reduced demand for their products and services, reduce their business activity and face increased financial pressure on their businesses, we have faced and expect to continue to face downward pressure on our pricing and gross margins due to pricing concessions to clients and requests from clients to extend payment cycles. In addition, clients have requested and may continue to request extended payment cycles, which may have an adverse effect on our cash flows from operations. We could also face a significantly elevated risk of client insolvency, bankruptcy or liquidity challenges where we may perform services and incurred expenses for which we are not paid.
The overall uncertainty regarding the economic impact of the Pandemic and the impact on our revenue growth could impact our cash flows from operations and liquidity. Asset impairment charges, increased currency exchange-rate fluctuations and an inability to recover costs or lost revenues or profits from insurance carriers could all adversely affect us, our financial condition and our results of operations. Additionally, the disruptions and volatility in the global and domestic capital markets may increase the cost of capital and limit our ability to access capital. Furthermore, the impact of the Pandemic on our lenders may limit our ability to borrow under our existing credit facilities.
Our continuous efforts to mitigate the negative effects of the Pandemic on our business may not be as effective in the future, and we may be affected by a protracted economic downturn. Even after the Pandemic has subsided, we may continue to experience negative effects as a result of the Pandemic’s global economic impact. Further, as this Pandemic is unprecedented and continuously evolving, it may also affect our operating and financial results in a manner that is not presently known to us or in a manner that we currently do not consider will present significant risks to us or our operations. Addressing the significant personal and business challenges presented by the Pandemic, including various business continuity measures and the need to enable work-at-home arrangements for many of our employees, has demanded significant management time and attention and strained other corporate resources, and is expected to continue to do so.
For more information, see “Item 5A. Operating Results – Key Factors Affecting Our Performance.”
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We were the target of a cybersecurity attack that impacted a portion of our information technology systems.
On August 17, 2020, we detected a ransomware attack that briefly impacted a portion of our information technology systems. Immediately upon becoming aware of the attack, we implemented containment measures to prohibit access by the threat actor to our extended network which also prevented its access to our client’s networks and systems. Normal IT operations continued, leveraging our redundant infrastructure, and immediately restoring the impacted systems from online backup systems. At no time did the attack impact our business operations, but the unauthorized access included the exfiltration of non-production data files from a file server in our backup data center. In conjunction with our containment activities, we launched an investigation, notified our insurance broker and carrier, and engaged an incident response team and cybersecurity forensics firm. We have been working with industry-leading cybersecurity firms who have implemented a series of additional containment and remediation measures to address the incident and reinforce the security of our information technology systems.
Based on the results of both internal and independent forensic analysis, we do not believe the incident will have a material impact on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. However, we may incur losses associated with claims by third parties, as well as fines, penalties and other sanctions imposed by regulators relating to or arising from the incident, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, or results of operations in future periods. While we continue to harden our cyber security infrastructure to address the constantly evolving threat landscape, we cannot provide assurance that our security frameworks and measures will be successful in preventing or promptly detecting and remediating future cyberattacks or a breach or compromise of security. Further, the incident may have a negative impact on our reputation and cause customers, suppliers and other third parties with whom we maintain relationships to lose confidence in us. We are unable to definitively determine the impact to these relationships and whether we will need to engage in any activities to rebuild them.
For more information, please refer to “Item 3D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—Unauthorized or improper disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information or breach of privacy, whether inadvertent or as the result of a cyber-attack or improperly by our employees, could result in liability and harm our reputation which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects” and “Item 3D. Risk Factors— Risks Related to Our Business—Our business is subject to a variety of U.S. and international laws and regulations, including those regarding privacy, data protection and information security, and our customers may be subject to regulations related to the handling and transfer of certain types of sensitive and confidential information. Any failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations would harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.”
Our business is dependent on key clients, and the loss of a key client could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
We derive a substantial portion of our revenue from a few key clients. Our top three “legacy” clients (i.e., our top three clients as of the end of fiscal year 2020 and 2019) accounted for 34.2%, 43.7%, and 50.6% of our revenues for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. During fiscal year 2021, our third largest client as of June 30, 2020 was replaced with our fourth largest client as of June 30, 2020. Our top three clients accounted for 35.0%, 43.7%, and 50.6% of our revenues for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. Our largest client as of June 30, 2021 was responsible for 12.4%, 18.2%, and 18.2% of our revenue for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. Our second largest client as of June 30, 2021 was responsible for 11.7%, 16.0%, and 20.3% of our revenue for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. Our third largest client as of June 30, 2021 was responsible for 10.9%, 9.5%, and 12.1% of our revenue for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. The loss of business with, or the failure to retain a significant amount of business with, any of our key clients could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, our ability to collect revenue could be impacted by the financial condition of our clients.
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We enter into multi-year contracts with our clients. Our failure to price these contracts correctly may negatively affect our profitability.
The pricing of our solutions is usually included in statements of work entered into with our clients, many of which are for terms of two to five years. In certain cases, we have committed to pricing over this period with limited to no sharing of risks regarding inflation and currency exchange rates. In addition, we are obligated under some of our contracts to deliver productivity benefits to our clients, such as reduction in handle time or speed to answer. If we fail to accurately estimate future wage inflation rates, unhedged currency exchange rates or our costs, or if we fail to accurately estimate the productivity benefits we can achieve under a contract, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The terms of our client contracts may limit our profitability or enable our clients to reduce or terminate their use of our solutions.
Most of our client contracts do not have minimum volume requirements, and the profitability of each client contract or work order may fluctuate, sometimes significantly, throughout various stages of the program. Certain contracts have performance-related bonus (penalty) provisions that require the client to pay us a bonus (require us to issue the client a credit) based upon our meeting (failing to meet) agreed-upon service levels and performance metrics. In addition, certain of our client contracts may subject us to potential liability and / or rebate payments in certain circumstances. Moreover, although our objective is to sign multi-year agreements, our contracts generally allow the client to terminate the contract for convenience or reduce their use of our solutions. There can be no assurance that our clients will not terminate their contracts before their scheduled expiration dates, that the volume of services for these programs will not be reduced, that we will be able to avoid penalties or earn performance bonuses for our solutions, or that we will be able to terminate unprofitable contracts without incurring significant liabilities. For these reasons, there can be no assurance that our client contracts will be profitable for us or that we will be able to achieve or maintain any particular level of profitability through our client contracts.
The consolidation of our clients or potential clients may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Consolidation of the potential users of our solutions, particularly those in the telecommunications, technology and cable industries, may decrease the number of clients who contract our solutions. Any significant reduction in or elimination of the use of the solutions we provide as a result of consolidation would result in reduced revenue to us and could harm our business. Such consolidation may encourage clients to apply increasing pressure on us to lower the prices we charge for our solutions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If our clients decide to enter into or further expand insourcing activities in the future, or if current trends toward outsourcing services and/or outsourcing activities are reversed, it may materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
Our current agreements with our clients do not prevent our clients from insourcing services that are currently outsourced to us, and none of our clients have entered into any non-compete agreements with us. Our current clients may seek to insource services similar to those we provide. Any decision by our clients to enter into or further expand insourcing activities in the future could cause us to lose a significant volume of business and may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Moreover, the trend towards outsourcing business processes may not continue and could be reversed by factors beyond our control, including negative perceptions attached to outsourcing activities or government regulations against outsourcing activities. Current or prospective clients may elect to perform such services in-house that may be associated with using an offshore provider. Political opposition to outsourcing services and / or outsourcing activities may also arise in certain countries if there is a perception that such actions have a negative effect on domestic employment opportunities.
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In addition, our business may be adversely affected by potential new laws and regulations prohibiting or limiting outsourcing of certain core business activities of our clients in key jurisdictions in which we conduct our business, such as in the United States. The introduction of such laws and regulations or the change in interpretation of existing laws and regulations could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Natural events, health epidemics (including the outbreak of COVID-19), wars, widespread civil unrest, terrorist attacks and other acts of violence involving any of the countries in which we or our clients have operations could adversely affect our operations and client confidence.
Natural events (such as floods and earthquakes), health epidemics (including the outbreak of COVID-19), wars, widespread civil unrest, terrorist attacks and other acts of violence could result in significant worker absenteeism, increased attrition rates, lower asset utilization rates, voluntary or mandatory closure of our facilities, our inability to meet dynamic employee health and safety requirements, our inability to meet contractual service levels for our clients, our inability to procure essential supplies, travel restrictions on our employees, and other disruptions to our business. In addition, these events could adversely affect global economies, financial markets and our clients’ levels of business activity. Any of these events, their consequences or the costs related to mitigation or remediation could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We have a limited operating history as an integrated company under the IBEX brand, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and the risks and uncertainties we may encounter.
Prior to June 30, 2017, our business was conducted through various wholly- or majority-owned portfolio companies of TRGI, which we refer to as the Continuing Business Entities. On June 30, 2017, TRGI completed a series of transactions, which we refer to as the Reorganization Transaction, as a result of which the Continuing Business Entities became our subsidiaries. Although our subsidiaries have individually conducted operations for years, we have a limited history operating the Continuing Business Entities as an integrated business under the IBEX brand, which make it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and the risks and uncertainties we may encounter in seeking to execute on our strategies. These risks and uncertainties include our ability to:
● | cross-sell our full spectrum of CLX solutions; |
● | educate the market on our full spectrum of CLX solutions; |
● | reposition and expand our brand to reflect our full spectrum of CLX solutions; and |
● | manage and execute our full spectrum of CLX solutions as part of an integrated company. |
Our historical performance, or that of our subsidiaries, should not be considered indicative of our future performance. We have encountered and expect to continue to encounter risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing industries, such as the risks and uncertainties described above and elsewhere in this annual report. If we are unable to successfully address these risks and uncertainties, our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects could be materially adversely affected.
For more information, see “Item 4A. History and development of the company” and “Item 7A. Major Shareholders.”
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Portions of our business have long sales cycles and long implementation cycles, which require significant resources and working capital.
Many of our client contracts are entered into after long sales cycles, which require a significant investment of capital, resources and time by both our clients and us. Before committing to use our solutions, potential clients require us to expend substantial time and resources educating them as to the value of our solutions and assessing the feasibility of integrating our systems and processes with theirs. As a result, our selling cycle, which may extend up to two years, is subject to many risks and delays over which we have little or no control, including our clients’ decisions to choose alternatives to our solutions (such as other providers or in-house resources) and the timing of our clients’ budget cycles and approval processes.
In addition, implementing our solutions involves a significant commitment of resources over an extended period of time from both our clients and us. Our clients may also experience delays in obtaining internal approvals or may face delays associated with technology or system implementations, thereby further delaying the implementation process.
If we fail to close sales with potential clients to whom we have devoted significant time and resources, or if our current and future clients are not willing or able to invest the time and resources necessary to implement our solutions, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could suffer.
Our business relies heavily on technology, telephone and computer systems as well as third-party telecommunications providers, which subjects us to various uncertainties.
We rely heavily on sophisticated and specialized communications and computer technology coupled with third-party telecommunications and bandwidth providers to provide high-quality and reliable real-time solutions on behalf of our clients through our delivery centers. In our Customer Acquisition solution, the majority of our sales are conducted via sales queues in our contact centers. In both our Customer Acquisition solution and our Customer Engagement solution, we are typically required to record and maintain recordings of telephonic interactions with customers. We rely on telephone, call recording, customer relationship management and other systems and technology in our contact center operations. Our operations, therefore, depend on the proper functioning of our equipment and systems, including telephone, hardware and software. Third-party suppliers provide most of our systems, hardware and software, while our development teams build some in-house. We also rely on the telecommunications and data services provided by local communication companies in the countries in which we operate as well as domestic and international long distance service providers. Despite our efforts for adequate backup and redundancy mechanisms, any disruptions in the delivery of our services due to the failure of our systems, hardware or software, whether provided and maintained by third parties or in-house teams, or due to interruptions in our telecommunications or data services that adversely affect the quality or reliability (or perceived quality or reliability) of our solutions or render us unable to handle increased volumes of customer interaction during periods of high demand, may result in reduction in revenue, loss of clients, or unexpected investment in new systems or technology to ensure that we can continue to provide high-quality and reliable solutions to our clients. The occurrence of any such interruption or unplanned investment could materially adversely affect our business, financial positions, operating results and prospects.
In addition, in some areas of our business, we depend upon the quality and reliability of the services and products of our clients which we help sell to their end customers. If the solutions we provide to our clients experience technical difficulties or quality issues, we may have a harder time selling services and products to end customers which could have an adverse impact on our business and operating results.
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We further anticipate that it will be necessary to continue to invest in our technology and communications infrastructure to ensure reliability and maintain our competitiveness. This is likely to result in significant ongoing capital expenditures for maintenance as well as growth as we continue to grow our business. There can be no assurance that any of our information systems will be adequate to meet our future needs or that we will be able to incorporate new technology to enhance and develop our existing solutions. Moreover, investments in technology, including future investments in upgrades and enhancements to hardware or software, may not necessarily maintain our competitiveness. Our future success will also depend in part on our ability to anticipate and develop information technology solutions that keep pace with evolving industry standards and changing client demands.
Our business is heavily dependent upon our international operations, particularly in Pakistan and the Philippines and increasingly in Jamaica and Nicaragua, and any disruption to those operations would adversely affect us.
Outside of the United States, a substantial portion of our operations are conducted in Pakistan, the Philippines and increasingly, Jamaica and Nicaragua. Pakistan has experienced, and continues to experience, political and social unrest and acts of terrorism. The Philippines has experienced political instability and acts of natural disaster, such as typhoons and flooding, and continues to be at risk of similar and other events that may disrupt our operations. Our operations in Jamaica, which commenced in 2016 and have been growing quickly, are also subject to political instability, natural disasters, crime and similar other risks. We also conduct operations in Canada, Nicaragua, Senegal and the United Kingdom which are subject to various risks germane to those locations.
Our international operations, particularly in Pakistan, the Philippines, Nicaragua and Jamaica, and our ability to maintain our offshore facilities in those jurisdictions is an essential component of our business model, as the labor costs in certain of those jurisdictions are substantially lower than the cost of comparable labor in the United States and other developed countries, which allows us to competitively price our solutions. Our competitive advantage will be greatly diminished and may disappear altogether as a result of a number of factors, including:
● | political unrest; |
● | social unrest; |
● | terrorism or war; |
● | health epidemics (including the outbreak of COVID-19); |
● | failure of power grids in certain of the countries in which we operate, which are subject to frequent outages; |
● | currency fluctuations; |
● | changes to the laws of the jurisdictions in which we operate; or |
● | increases in the cost of labor and supplies in the jurisdictions in which we operate. |
Our international operations may also be affected by trade restrictions, such as tariffs or other trade controls. If we are unable to continue to leverage the skills and experience of our international workforce, particularly in Pakistan and the Philippines and increasingly so in Jamaica, we may be unable to provide our solutions at an attractive price and our business could be materially and negatively impacted.
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The inelasticity of our labor costs relative to short-term movements in client demand could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business depends on maintaining large numbers of agents to service our clients’ business needs, and we tend not to terminate agents on short notice to respond to temporary declines in demand in excess of agreed levels, as rehiring and retraining agents at a later date would force us to incur additional expenses, and any termination of our employees would also involve the incurrence of significant additional costs in the form of severance payments to comply with labor regulations in the various jurisdictions in which we operate our business, all of which would have an adverse impact on our operating profit margins. For example, the Pandemic decreased client demand for our services in certain verticals which resulted in furloughs of employees in the initial months of the Pandemic. Additionally, the hiring and training of our agents in response to increased demand takes time and results in additional short-term expenses. These factors constrain our ability to adjust our labor costs for short-term movements in demand, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The anticipated strategic and financial benefits of our relationship with Amazon may not be realized.
On November 13, 2017, we issued to Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. (“Amazon”), a 10-year warrant to acquire approximately 10.0% of our equity on a fully diluted and as-converted basis as of the date of issuance of the warrant. We issued this warrant to Amazon with the expectation that the warrant would result in various benefits including, among others, growth in revenues and improved cash flows. Achieving the anticipated benefits from the warrant is subject to a number of challenges and uncertainties. If we are unable to achieve our objectives or if we experience delays, the expected benefits may be only partially realized or not at all, or may take longer to realize than expected, which could adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations.
For more information, see our audited consolidated financial statements included at the end of this annual report.
The success of our business depends on our senior management and key employees.
Our success depends on the continued service and performance of our senior management and other key personnel. In each of the industries in which we participate, there is competition for experienced senior management and personnel with industry-specific expertise. We may not be able to retain our key personnel or recruit skilled personnel with appropriate qualifications and experience. The loss of key members of our personnel, particularly to competitors, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We may fail to attract, hire, train and retain sufficient numbers of agents and other employees in a timely fashion at our facilities to support our operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our business relies on large numbers of trained agents and other employees at our facilities, and our success depends to a significant extent on our ability to attract, hire, train and retain agents and other employees. The outsourcing industry experiences high employee turnover. In addition, we compete for employees not only with other companies in our industry, but also with companies in other industries. Increased competition for these employees, in our industry or otherwise, particularly in tight labor markets, could have an adverse effect on our business. Additionally, a significant increase in the turnover rate among trained employees could increase our costs and decrease our operating profit margins.
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In addition, our ability to maintain and renew existing client engagements, obtain new business and increase our margins will depend, in large part, on our ability to attract, hire, train and retain employees with skills that enable us to keep pace with growing demands for outsourcing, evolving industry standards, new technology applications and changing client preferences. Our failure to attract, train and retain personnel with the experience and skills necessary to fulfill the needs of our existing and future clients or to assimilate new employees successfully into our operations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If we are not successful in converting visitors to our customer acquisition websites into purchasers or subscribers, our business and operating results may be harmed.
The growth of our customer acquisition business depends in part upon growth in the number of our customers or subscribers we are able to acquire for our clients. The rate at which we convert consumers into customers or subscribers using our customer acquisition websites is a significant factor in the growth of our customer acquisition business. A number of factors could influence this conversion rate for any given period, some of which are outside of our control. These factors include:
● | the quality of the consumer experience on our customer acquisition websites and with our delivery center; |
● | the variety and affordability of the products and services that we offer on behalf of our clients and carrier partners; |
● | system failures or interruptions in the operation of our customer acquisition websites; and |
● | changes in the mix of consumers who are referred to us through our direct marketing partners, online advertising subscriber acquisition channels and other marketing channels. |
Even if the rate at which we convert visitors to customers or subscribers declines, the marketing and lead generation costs that have already been incurred are unlikely to decline correspondingly. Therefore, such a decline in conversion rate of consumers visiting our customer acquisition websites is likely to result in reduced revenue and a further reduced margin, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
We depend upon internet search engines to attract a significant portion of the consumers who visit our customer acquisition websites, and if we are unable to advertise on search engines on a cost-effective basis, our business and operating results would be harmed.
We maintain a number of different customer acquisition websites to market our clients’ offerings to consumers in their target customer segments. Such client service offerings include cable, internet and paid television services. We derive a significant portion of our customer acquisition website traffic from consumers who search products or services using Internet search engines, such as Google, MSN and Yahoo!. A critical factor in attracting consumers to our customer acquisition websites is whether our clients’ offerings are prominently displayed in response to an internet search relating to specific products or services that we market. Search engines typically provide two types of search results, unpaid (natural) listings and paid advertisements. We rely on both unpaid listings and paid advertisements to attract consumers to our customer acquisition websites.
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Unpaid search result listings are determined and displayed in accordance with a set of formulas or algorithms developed by the particular internet search engine. The algorithms determine the order of the listing of results in response to the consumer’s internet search. From time to time, search engines revise these algorithms. In some instances, these modifications have caused our customer acquisition websites to be listed less prominently in unpaid search results, which has resulted in decreased traffic to these websites. Our customer acquisition websites may also become listed less prominently in unpaid search results for other reasons, such as search engine technical difficulties, search engine technical changes and changes we decide to make to our websites. In addition, search engines have deemed the practices of some companies to be inconsistent with search engine guidelines and decided not to list their websites in search result listings at all. If we are listed less prominently in search result listings for any reason, the traffic to our customer acquisition websites would likely decline, which would harm our operating results. If we decide to attempt to replace this traffic, we may be required to increase our marketing expenditures, which also would harm our operating results and financial condition.
We also purchase paid advertisements on search engines in order to attract users to our customer acquisition websites. We typically pay a search engine for prominent placement of our name and website when certain specific terms are searched on the search engine, regardless of the unpaid search result listings. In some circumstances, the prominence of the placement of our name and website is determined by a combination of factors, including the amount we are willing to pay and algorithms designed to determine the relevance of our paid advertisement to a particular search term. We bid against our competitors and others for the display of these paid search engine advertisements. If there is increased competition for the display of paid advertisements in response to search terms related to our business, our advertising expenses could rise significantly or we could reduce or discontinue our paid search advertisements, either of which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
In addition to marketing through internet search engines, we frequently enter into contractual marketing relationships with other online and offline businesses that promote us to their customers. These marketing partners include financial and online service companies, affiliate programs and online advertisers and content providers.
Many factors influence the success of our relationship with our marketing partners, including:
● | the continued positive market presence, reputation and growth of the marketing partner; |
● | the effectiveness of the marketing partner in marketing our websites and services; |
● | the interest of the marketing partner’s customers in the products and services that we offer on our customer acquisition websites; |
● | the contractual terms we negotiate with the marketing partner, including the marketing fee we agree to pay a marketing partner; |
● | the percentage of the marketing partner’s customers that purchase products or services through our customer acquisition websites; |
● | the ability of a marketing partner to maintain efficient and uninterrupted operation of its website; and |
● | our ability to work with the marketing partner to implement website changes, launch marketing campaigns and pursue other initiatives necessary to maintain positive consumer experiences and acceptable traffic volumes. |
If we are unable to maintain successful relationships with our existing marketing partners or fail to establish successful relationships with new marketing partners, our business, operating results and financial condition will be harmed.
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Our business depends in part on our capacity to invest in technology as it develops, and substantial increases in the costs of technology and telecommunications services or our inability to attract and retain the necessary technologists could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
The use of technology in our industry has and will continue to expand and change rapidly. Our business depends, in part, upon our ability to develop and implement solutions that anticipate and keep pace with continuing changes in technology, industry standards and client preferences. We may incur significant expenses in an effort to keep pace with customer preferences for technology or to gain a competitive advantage through technological expertise or new technologies.
If we do not recognize the importance of a particular new technology to our business in a timely manner, are not committed to investing in and developing or adopting such new technology and applying these technologies to our business, or are unable to attract and retain the technologists necessary to develop and implement such technologies, our current solutions may be less attractive to existing and new clients, and we may lose market share to competitors who have recognized these trends and invested in such technology. There can be no assurance that we will have sufficient capacity or capital to meet these challenges. Any such failure to recognize the importance of such technology, a decision not to invest and develop or adopt such technology that keeps pace with evolving industry standards and changing client demands, or an inability to attract and retain the technologists necessary to develop and implement such technology could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Increases in employee expenses as well as changes to labor laws could reduce our profit margin.
For the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, payroll and related costs and share-based payments accounted for $301.3 million, $276.6 million, and $258.7 million, respectively, representing, 67.9%, 68.3%, and 70.2%, respectively, of our revenue in those periods.
Employee benefits expenses in each of the countries in which we operate are a function of the country’s economic growth, level of employment and overall competition for qualified employees in the country. In several locations including the United States, the Philippines and Pakistan, we have experienced increased labor cost during the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019 due to increased demand and greater competition for qualified employees. For further details, see “Item 5A. Operating Results – Results of Operations.”
We may not be successful in our attempt to control costs associated with salaries and benefits as we continue to add capacity in locations where we consider wage levels of skilled personnel to be satisfactory. We may need to increase employee compensation more than in previous periods to remain competitive in attracting the quantity and quality of employees that our business requires, which may reduce our profit margins and have a material adverse effect on our cash flows, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, wage increases or other expenses related to the termination of our employees may reduce our profit margins and have a material adverse effect on our cash flows, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. If we expand our operations into new jurisdictions, we may be subject to increased operating costs, including higher employee compensation expenses in these new jurisdictions relative to our current operating costs, which could have a negative effect on our profit margin.
Furthermore, many of the countries in which we operate have labor protection laws, which may include statutorily mandated minimum annual wage increases, legislation that imposes financial obligations on employers and laws governing the employment of workers. These labor laws in one or more of the key jurisdictions in which we operate, particularly in the United States, Pakistan, the Philippines, Jamaica or Nicaragua, may be modified in the future in a way that is detrimental to our business. If these labor laws become more stringent, or if there are increases in statutory minimum wages or higher labor costs in these jurisdictions, it may become more difficult for us to discharge employees, or cost effectively downsize our operations as our level of activity fluctuates, both of which would likely reduce our profit margins and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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We may face difficulties as we expand our operations into countries in which we have no prior operating experience.
We may expand our global operations in order to maintain an appropriate cost structure and meet our clients’ needs. This may involve expanding into countries other than those in which we currently operate and where we have less familiarity with local procedures. It may involve expanding into less developed countries, which may have less political, social or economic stability and less developed infrastructure and legal systems. As we expand our business into new countries, we may encounter economic, regulatory, personnel, technological and other difficulties that increase our expenses or delay our ability to start up our operations or become profitable in such countries. This may affect our relationships with our clients and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our profitability will suffer if we are not able to maintain asset utilization levels, price appropriately and control our costs.
Our profitability is largely a function of the efficiency with which we utilize our assets, particularly our people and facilities, and the pricing that we are able to obtain for our solutions. Our utilization rates are affected by a number of factors, including our ability to transition employees from completed projects to new assignments, hire and assimilate new employees, forecast demand for our solutions and thereby maintain an appropriate headcount in each of our locations and geographies, manage attrition, accommodate our clients’ requests to shift the mix of delivery locations during the pendency of a contract, and manage resources for training, professional development and other typically non-billable activities. The prices we are able to charge for our solutions are affected by a number of factors, including our clients’ perceptions of our ability to add value through our solutions, competition, introduction of new services or products by us or our competitors, our ability to accurately estimate, attain and sustain revenues from client engagements, margins and cash flows over increasingly longer contract periods and general economic and political conditions. Therefore, if we are unable to price appropriately or manage our asset utilization levels, there could be a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our profitability is also a function of our ability to control our costs and improve our efficiency. As we increase the number of our employees and grow our business, we may not be able to manage the significantly larger and more geographically diverse workforce and our profitability may suffer.
The inability or unwillingness of clients that represent a large portion of our accounts receivable balance to pay such balances in a timely fashion could adversely affect our business.
We often carry significant accounts receivable balances from a limited number of clients that generate a large portion of our revenues. A client may become unable or unwilling to pay its balance in a timely fashion due to a general economic slowdown, economic weakness in its industry or the financial insolvency of its business. While we closely monitor our accounts receivable balances, a client’s financial inability or unwillingness, for any reason, to pay a large accounts receivable balance would adversely impact our financial condition and cash flow and could adversely impact our ability to draw upon our receivables-backed lines of credit.
If we are unable to fund our working capital requirements and new investments, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
Our business is characterized by high working capital requirements and the need to make new investments in operating sites and employee resources to meet the requirements of our clients. Similar to our competitors in this industry, we incur significant start-up costs related to investments in infrastructure to provide our solutions and the hiring and training of employees, such expenses historically being incurred before revenues are generated.
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We are exposed to adverse changes in our clients’ payment policies. If our key clients implement policies which extend the payment terms of our invoices, our working capital levels could be adversely affected and our financing costs may increase. If we are unable to fund our working capital requirements, access financing at competitive rates or make investments to meet the expanding business of our existing and potential new clients, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
Our operating results may fluctuate from quarter to quarter due to various factors including seasonality.
Our operating results may vary significantly from one quarter to the next and our business may be impacted by factors such as client loss, the timing of new contracts and of new product or service offerings, termination of existing contracts, variations in the volume of business from clients resulting from changes in our clients’ operations, the business decisions of our clients regarding the use of our solutions, start-up costs, delays or difficulties in expanding our operating facilities and infrastructure, delays or difficulties in recruiting, changes to our revenue mix or to our pricing structure or that of our competitors, inaccurate estimates of resources and time required to complete ongoing projects, currency fluctuation and seasonal changes in the operations of our clients. The financial benefit of gaining a new client may not be recognized at the intended time due to delays in the implementation of our solutions or negatively impacted due to an increase in the start-up costs.
Based on our experience, the BPO industry experiences increased volumes during the fourth calendar quarter of the year. These seasonal effects also cause differences in revenues and income among the various quarters of any financial year, which means that the individual quarters of a year should not be directly compared with each other or used to predict annual financial results.
The sales cycle for our solutions, which may extend up to two years, and the internal budget and approval processes of our prospective clients, make it difficult to predict the timing of new client engagements.
Damage or disruptions to our technology systems and facilities either through events beyond or within our control could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our key technology systems and facilities may be damaged in natural disasters such as earthquakes or fires or subject to damage or compromise from human error, technical disruptions, power failure, computer glitches, cyberattacks, security incidents and breaches, viruses or other malware, telecommunications failures, adverse weather conditions and other unforeseen events, all of which are beyond our control or through bad service or poor performance which are within our control. Such events may cause disruptions to information systems, electrical power and telephone service for sustained periods. Any significant failure, damage or destruction of our equipment or systems, or any major disruptions to basic infrastructure such as power and telecommunications systems in the locations in which we operate, could impede our ability to provide solutions to our clients and thus adversely affect their businesses, have a negative impact on our reputation and may cause us to incur substantial additional expenses to repair or replace damaged equipment or facilities.
While we maintain property, cyber, and business interruption insurance, our insurance coverage may not be sufficient to guarantee costs of repairing the damage caused by such disruptive events and such events may not be covered under our policies. Prolonged disruption of our solutions, even if due to events beyond our control, could also entitle our clients to terminate their contracts with us or result in other brand and reputational damages, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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We face substantial competition in our business.
The market in which we compete, which is comprised of the customer acquisition, customer engagement and customer experience management market segments, is highly fragmented and continuously evolving. We face competition from a variety of companies, including some of our own clients, which operate in distinct segments of the customer lifecycle journey. These segments are very competitive, and we expect competition to remain intense from a number of sources in the future. We believe that the most significant competitive factors in the markets in which we operate are service quality, value-added service offerings, industry experience, advanced technological capabilities, global coverage, reliability, scalability, security and price. The trend toward near- and offshore outsourcing, international expansion by foreign and domestic competitors and continued technological changes may result in new and different competitors entering our markets. These competitors may include entrants from the communications, software and data networking industries or entrants in geographical locations with lower costs than those in which we operate.
Some of our existing and future competitors have or will have greater financial, human and other resources, longer operating histories, greater technological expertise and more established relationships in the industries that we currently serve or may serve in the future. In addition, some of our competitors may enter into strategic or commercial relationships among themselves or with larger, more established companies in order to increase their ability to address customer needs and reduce operating costs or enter into similar arrangements with potential clients. Further, trends of consolidation in our certain industries and among competitors may result in new competitors with greater scale, a broader footprint, better technologies and price efficiencies attractive to our clients. Increased competition, our inability to compete successfully, pricing pressures or loss of market share could result in reduced operating profit margins and diminished financial performance which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Unfavorable economic conditions, especially in the United States and in the telecommunications, technology and cable industries from which we generate most of our revenue, could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
Our results of operations may vary based on the impact of changes in the global economy on our clients. While it is often difficult to predict the impact of general economic conditions on our business, unfavorable economic conditions, such as those that occurred during the global financial crisis and economic downturn that began in 2008, could adversely affect the demand for some of our clients’ products and services and, in turn, could cause a decline in the demand for our solutions. Additionally, several of our clients, particularly in the telecommunications and technology industries, have experienced substantial price competition. As a result, we face increasing price pressure from such clients, which, if continued, could negatively affect our operating and financial performance.
Our business and future growth depend largely on continued demand for our solutions from clients based in the United States. During the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, we derived 96.7%, 96.7%, and 98.0%, respectively, of our revenue from customers based in the United States. In addition, a substantial portion of our clients are concentrated in the telecommunications, technology, cable, retail and e-commerce industries. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, 29.3% of our revenue was derived from clients in the telecommunications industry, 16.0% of our revenue was derived from clients in the technology industry, 5.7% of our revenue was derived from clients in the cable industry and 19.6% of our revenue was derived from clients in the retail and e-commerce industry. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, 36.6% of our revenue was derived from clients in the telecommunications industry, 13.1% of our revenue was derived from clients in the technology industry, 7.0% of our revenue was derived from clients in the cable industry and 16.8% of our revenue was derived from clients in the retail and e-commerce industry. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019, 40.5% of our revenue was derived from clients in the telecommunications industry, 14.7% of our revenue was derived from clients in the technology industry, 9.9% of our revenue was derived from clients in the cable industry and 7.9% of our revenue was derived from clients in the retail and e-commerce industry.
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For these reasons, among others, the occurrence of unfavorable economic conditions could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
If our solutions do not comply with the quality standards required by our clients under our agreements, our clients may assert claims for reduced payments to us or substantial damages against us, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Many of our client contracts contain service level and performance requirements, including requirements relating to the quality of our solutions. Failure to meet service requirements or real or perceived errors made by our employees in the course of delivering our solutions could result in a reduction of revenue, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
In addition, in connection with our service contracts, certain representations are made, including representations relating to the quality and experience of our personnel. A failure or inability to meet these requirements or a breach of such representations could result in a claim for damages against us and seriously damage our reputation and affect our ability to attract new business.
Our business prospects will suffer if we are unable to continue to anticipate our clients’ needs by adapting to market and technology trends.
Our success depends, in part, upon our ability to anticipate our clients’ needs by adapting to market and technology trends. We may need to invest significant resources in research and development to maintain and improve our solutions and respond to our clients’ changing needs. However, we may not be able to modify our current solutions or develop, introduce and integrate new solutions in a timely manner or on a cost-effective basis. If we are unable to further refine and enhance our solutions or to anticipate innovation opportunities and keep pace with evolving technologies, our solutions could become uncompetitive or obsolete and as a result our clients may terminate their relationship with us or choose to divert their business elsewhere, and our revenue may decline as a result. In addition, we may experience technical problems and additional costs as we introduce new solutions, deploy future iterations of our solutions and integrate new solutions with existing client systems and workflows. If any of these or related problems were to arise, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
In addition, we plan to expand across client industries and enter into new industry verticals such as travel and hospitality. If we are unable to successfully adapt our solutions to these industry verticals, our potential growth opportunities could be compromised.
If we fail to adequately protect our intellectual property and proprietary information in the United States and abroad, our competitive position could be impaired and we may lose valuable assets, experience reduced revenues and incur costly litigation to protect our rights.
We believe that our success is dependent, in part, upon protecting our intellectual property and proprietary information. We rely on a combination of intellectual property registrations, trade secrets and contractual restrictions to establish and protect our intellectual property. However, the steps we take to protect our intellectual property may provide only limited protection and may not now or in the future provide us with a competitive advantage. We may not be able to protect our intellectual property if we are unable to enforce our rights or if we do not detect unauthorized use of our intellectual property. Any of our intellectual property rights may be challenged by others or invalidated through administrative process or litigation. Furthermore, legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights are uncertain. Despite our precautions, it may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy our technology and use information that we regard as proprietary to create products and services that compete with our solutions. In addition, the laws of some countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States.
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We enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and consultants and enter into confidentiality agreements with our directors, advisory board members and with the parties with whom we have strategic relationships and business alliances, as well as our clients. No assurance can be given that these agreements will be effective in controlling access to and the distribution of our proprietary information. Further, these agreements may not prevent potential competitors from independently developing technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to ours, in which case we would not be able to assert trade secret rights.
We may be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our intellectual property rights. Litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights and to protect our trade secrets. Such litigation could be costly, time consuming and distracting to management and could result in the impairment or loss of portions of our intellectual property. Furthermore, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights may be met with defenses, counterclaims and countersuits attacking the eligibility, validity and enforceability of our intellectual property rights. Our inability to protect our proprietary technology against unauthorized copying or use, as well as any costly litigation, could make it more expensive for us to do business and adversely affect our operating results by delaying further sales or the implementation of our technologies, impairing the functionality of our platform and solutions, delaying introductions of new features or applications or injuring our reputation.
Others could claim that we infringe on their intellectual property rights or violate contractual protections, which may result in substantial costs, diversion of resources and management attention and harm to our reputation.
We or our clients may be subject to claims that our technology infringes upon the intellectual property rights of others. Any such infringement claims may result in substantial costs, divert management attention and other resources, harm our reputation and prevent us from offering our solutions. A successful infringement claim against us could materially and adversely affect our business, resulting in our substituting inferior or costlier technologies into our platform and solutions, monetary damages, reasonable royalties or an injunction against providing some or all of our solutions.
In our contracts, we agree to indemnify our clients for expenses and liabilities resulting from claimed infringement by our solutions, in some cases excluding third-party components, of the intellectual property rights of others. In some instances, the amount of these indemnity obligations may be greater than the revenues we receive from the client under the applicable contract. In addition, we may develop work product in connection with specific projects for our clients. While our contracts with our clients provide that we retain the ownership rights to our pre-existing proprietary intellectual property, in some cases we assign to clients intellectual property rights in and to some aspects of documentation or other work product developed specifically for these clients in connection with these projects, which may limit or prevent our ability to resell or reuse this intellectual property.
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Our global operations expose us to numerous legal and regulatory requirements.
We provide solutions to our clients’ customers in 41 countries and three continents around the world. We are subject to numerous, and sometimes conflicting, legal regimes on matters as diverse as anticorruption, content requirements, trade restrictions, tariffs, taxation, sanctions, immigration, internal and disclosure control obligations, securities regulation, anti-competition, data security, privacy and labor relations. For example, our operations in the United States are subject to U.S. laws on these diverse matters and our operations outside of the United States may also be subject to U.S. laws on these diverse matters. U.S. laws may be different in several respects from the laws of Pakistan and the Philippines, where we have significant operations, and jurisdictions where we may seek to expand. We also have and may seek to expand operations in emerging market jurisdictions where legal systems may be less developed or familiar to us. In addition, there can be no assurance that the laws or administrative practices relating to taxation (including the current position as to income and withholding taxes), foreign exchange, export controls, economic sanctions or otherwise in the jurisdictions where we have operations will not change. Compliance with diverse legal requirements is costly, time-consuming and requires significant resources. Violations of one or more of these regulations in the conduct of our business could result in significant fines, criminal sanctions against us or our officers, prohibitions on doing business and damage to our reputation. Violations of these regulations in connection with the performance of our obligations to our clients also could result in liability for significant monetary damages, fines or criminal prosecution, unfavorable publicity and other reputational damage, restrictions on our ability to process information and allegations by our clients that we have not performed our contractual obligations. Due to the varying degrees of development of the legal systems of the countries in which we operate, local laws might be insufficient to protect our rights.
We are subject to economic sanctions, export control, anti-corruption, anti-bribery, and similar laws. Non-compliance with such laws can subject us to criminal or civil liability and harm our business, revenues, financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to U.S. export controls and economic sanctions laws and regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations administered by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security and the economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls. Exports, re-exports and transfers of our software and services must be made in compliance with these laws and regulations, which could impair our ability to compete in international markets and subject us to liability if we are not in compliance with applicable laws. Specifically, the provision of our services and our international activities are subject to various economic and trade sanctions administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which include prohibitions on the sale or supply of certain products and services to U.S. embargoed or sanctioned countries, governments, persons and entities. The Office of Foreign Assets Control rules also prohibit U.S. persons from facilitating a foreign person’s engagement in or with such countries, governments, persons and entities.
Although we take precautions to prevent our services from being provided or deployed in violation of such laws, our services could be provided inadvertently in violation of such laws despite the precautions we take, including usage by our customers in violation of our terms of service. We also cannot assure you that our employees and agents will not take actions in violation of our policies and applicable law, for which we may be ultimately held responsible. If we fail to comply with these laws, we and our employees could be subject to civil or criminal penalties, including the possible loss of export privileges, monetary penalties, and, in extreme cases, imprisonment of responsible employees for knowing and willful violations of these laws. We may also be adversely affected through penalties, reputational harm, loss of access to certain markets, or otherwise.
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In addition, various countries regulate the import and export of certain encryption and other technology, including import and export permitting and licensing requirements, and have enacted laws that could limit our ability to distribute our products or could limit our users’ ability to access our products in those countries. Changes in our products, or future changes in export and import regulations may prevent our users with international operations from utilizing our products globally or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our products to certain countries, governments, or persons altogether. Any change in export or import regulations, economic sanctions, or related legislation, or change in the countries, governments, persons, or technologies targeted by such regulations, could result in decreased use of our products by, or in our decreased ability to export or sell products to, existing or potential users with international operations. Any decreased use of our platform or limitation on our ability to export or sell our products would likely adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial results.
In many parts of the world, including countries in which we operate or seek to expand, practices in the local business community may not conform to international business standards and could violate anticorruption laws or regulations, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010 and the Bermuda Bribery Act of 2016. Our employees, subcontractors, agents and other third parties with which we associate could take actions that violate our policies or procedures designed to promote legal and regulatory compliance or applicable anticorruption laws or regulations. As we continue our international business, we may also engage with distributors and third-party intermediaries to market our solutions and to obtain necessary permits, licenses, and other regulatory approvals. In addition, we or our third-party intermediaries may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of these third-party intermediaries, our employees, representatives, contractors, partners and agents, even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities. Violations of these laws or regulations by us, our employees or any of these third parties could subject us to criminal or civil enforcement actions (whether or not we participated or knew about the actions leading to the violations) including fines or penalties, disgorgement of profits and suspension or disqualification from work, including U.S. federal contracting, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, including our results of operations and our reputation.
We cannot predict whether any material suits, claims, or investigations may arise in the future. Regardless of the outcome of any future actions, claims, or investigations, we may incur substantial defense costs and such actions may cause a diversion of management time and attention. Also, it is possible that we may be required to pay substantial damages or settlement costs which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our client base includes many entities in highly regulated industries, potentially increasing our legal risk and compliance costs and requiring implementation of additional security measures.
Many of our clients are engaged in highly regulated industries that have an array of sector-specific regulatory obligations, including privacy and security requirements. Specifically, our focus on the telecommunications, technology and cable industries means that we may process or come into possession of data that must be treated with special care. In additional to government regulations, our client contracts contain requirements related to the retention of records.
In the United States, telecommunications providers are subject to rules on the use and sharing of Customer Proprietary Network Information (“CPNI”). The Telecommunications Act of 1996 limits the uses to which such information may be put, and the parties with whom it may be shared, absent customer permission. It also requires that CPNI be adequately safeguarded. Compliance with these obligations has been a topic of increased interest for the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, (“FCC”), which has undertaken high-profile CPNI enforcement actions in recent years. The FCC also is in the process of applying such rules to broadband service providers, which could affect how we may provide our solutions to this sector of the telecommunications industry. We instruct our clients not to provide any CPNI to us, but this information may inadvertently be provided to us by our clients as part of their customer information.
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In the United States, two federal agencies, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the FCC, and various states have enacted laws including, at the federal level, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, that restrict the placing of certain telephone calls and texts to residential and wireless telephone subscribers by means of automatic telephone dialing systems, prerecorded or artificial voice messages and fax machines. Internationally, we are also subject to similar laws imposing limitations on marketing calls to wireline and wireless numbers and compliance with do not call rules. These laws require companies to institute processes and safeguards to comply with these restrictions. Some of these laws can be enforced by the FTC, FCC, state attorney generals, foreign regulators or private party litigants. In these types of actions, the plaintiff may seek damages, statutory penalties, costs and/or attorneys’ fees.
These and other sector-specific obligations could increase our legal risk and impose additional compliance costs on our solutions. If we fail to comply with these obligations, we could suffer a range of consequences, including contract breach claims from our clients, third party claims and litigation, regulatory fines and other penalties, or reputational harm, all of which may have a material adverse impact on our business.
Our business is subject to a variety of U.S. and international laws and regulations, including those regarding privacy, data protection and information security, and our customers may be subject to regulations related to the handling and transfer of certain types of sensitive and confidential information. Any failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations would harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We and our customers may be subject to privacy- and data protection-related laws and regulations that impose obligations in connection with the collection, use, storage, transfer, dissemination, security, and/or other processing, (“Processing”), of personally identifiable information (such personally identifiable information collectively with all information defined or described by applicable law as “personal data,” “personal information,” “PII” or any similar term, is referred to as Personally Identifiable Information), data, financial data, health data or other similar data. Existing U.S. federal and various state and foreign privacy- and data protection-related laws and regulations are evolving and subject to potentially differing interpretations and conflicting requirements, and various legislative and regulatory bodies may expand current or enact new laws and regulations regarding privacy- and data protection-related matters. New laws, amendments to or re-interpretations of existing laws and regulations, rules of self-regulatory bodies, industry standards and contractual obligations may impact our business and practices, and we may be required to expend significant resources to adapt to these changes, or stop offering our products in certain countries. These developments could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
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The U.S. federal and various state and foreign governments have adopted or proposed limitations on, or requirements regarding, the Processing of Personally Identifiable Information of individuals. The FTC and numerous state attorneys general are applying federal and state consumer protection laws to impose standards on the Processing of data, and to the security measures applied to such data. Similarly, many foreign countries and governmental bodies, including the EU member states and the United Kingdom, have laws and regulations concerning the Processing of Personally Identifiable Information obtained from their residents and individuals located in the EU or UK or by businesses operating within their jurisdiction, which are often more restrictive than those in the United States. Laws and regulations in these jurisdictions apply broadly to the Processing of Personally Identifiable Information that identifies or may be used to identify an individual, such as names, email addresses and, in some jurisdictions, IP addresses and other online or device identifiers. In particular, on April 27, 2016 the European Union adopted the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 / 679 (“GDPR”) that took effect on May 25, 2018. The GDPR repeals and replaces the EU Data Protection Directive 95 / 46 / EC and it is directly applicable across EU member states. The GDPR applies to any company established in the EU or UK as well as to those outside the EU or UK if they process Personally Identifiable Information, as defined under the GDPR, in connection with the provision of goods or services to individuals in the EU or UK or monitor their behavior (for example, through online tracking) of individuals in the EU or UK. The GDPR enhances data protection obligations for businesses and provides direct legal obligations and potential liabilities for service providers processing Personally Identifiable Information on behalf of customers, including with respect to cooperation with European data protection authorities, implementation of security measures and keeping records of personal data processing activities. Moreover, the GDPR requirements apply not only to third-party transactions, such as with our customers and service providers, but also to transfers of EU or UK personal data between us and our subsidiaries, including employee information. Noncompliance with the GDPR can trigger steep fines of up to €20 million or 4% of global annual revenues, whichever is higher.
In addition to the GDPR, the EU also is considering another draft data protection regulation. The proposed regulation, known as the Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications, (“ePrivacy Regulation”), would replace the current ePrivacy Directive. Originally planned to be adopted and implemented at the same time as the GDPR, the ePrivacy Regulation has been delayed but could be enacted sometime in the relatively near future. While the new regulation contains protections for those using communications services (for example, protections against online tracking technologies), the potential timing of its enactment significantly later than the GDPR means that additional time and effort may need to be spent addressing differences between the ePrivacy Regulation and the GDPR. New rules related to the ePrivacy Regulation are likely to include enhanced consent requirements in order to use communications content and communications metadata, as well as obligations and restrictions on the processing of data from an end-user’s terminal equipment, which may negatively impact our product offerings and our relationships with our customers. Preparing for and complying with the GDPR and the ePrivacy Regulation (if and when it becomes effective) has required and will continue to require us to incur substantial operational costs and may require us to change our business practices. Despite our efforts to bring practices into compliance with the GDPR and before the effective date of the ePrivacy Regulation, we may not be successful either due to internal or external factors such as resource allocation limitations or varying regulatory interpretation of these laws’ requirements. Non-compliance could result in proceedings against us by governmental entities, customers, data subjects, consumer associations or others.
With respect to all of the foregoing, any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with applicable U.S., EU or other foreign privacy or data security laws, policies, industry standards or legal obligations, or any security incident that results in the unauthorized Processing of Personally Identifiable Information or other customer data may result in governmental investigations, inquiries, enforcement actions and prosecutions, private litigation, fines and penalties or adverse publicity.
We expect that there will continue to be new proposed laws, regulations and industry standards concerning privacy, data protection and information security in the U.S., the EU and other jurisdictions, and we cannot yet determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards may have on our business. Because global laws, regulations, industry standards and other legal obligations concerning privacy and data security have continued to develop and evolve rapidly, it is possible that we or our business may not be, or may not have been, compliant with each such applicable law, regulation, industry standard or other legal obligation.
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Any such new laws, regulations, other legal obligations or industry standards, or any changed interpretation of existing laws, regulations or other standards may require us to incur additional costs and restrict our business operations. If our privacy or data security measures fail to comply with current or future laws, regulations, policies, legal obligations or industry standards, we may be subject to litigation, regulatory investigations, fines or other liabilities, as well as negative publicity and a potential loss of business.
Unauthorized or improper disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information or breach of privacy, whether inadvertent or as the result of a cyber-attack or improperly by our employees, could result in liability and harm our reputation which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our business depends significantly upon technology infrastructure, telephone systems, data and other equipment and systems. Internal or external attacks on any of those could disrupt the normal operations of our facilities and impede our ability to provide critical solutions to our clients, thereby subjecting us to liability under our contracts. In addition, our business involves the use, storage and transmission of information about our employees, our clients and customers of our clients in connection with our solutions such as Personally Identifiable Information of the customers of our clients. While we take measures to protect the security of, and against unauthorized access to, our systems, as well as the privacy of Personally Identifiable Information and proprietary information, it is possible that our security controls over our systems, as well as other security practices we follow, may not prevent the improper access to or disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information or proprietary information. Such disclosure could harm our reputation and subject us to significant liability under our contracts and laws that protect Personally Identifiable Information, resulting in increased costs or loss of revenue. Further, data privacy is subject to frequently changing rules and regulations, which sometimes conflict among the various jurisdictions and countries in which we provide solutions. Our failure to adhere to or successfully implement processes in response to changing regulatory requirements in this area or any other kind of improper access to private Personally Identifiable Information could result in legal liability or impairment to our reputation in the marketplace, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our existing debt may affect our flexibility in operating and developing our business and our ability to satisfy our obligations.
As of June 30, 2021, we had total indebtedness of $112.5 million, including our lease liabilities. Our level of indebtedness may have significant negative effects on our future operations, including:
● | impairing our ability to obtain additional financing in the future (or to obtain such financing on acceptable terms) for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other important needs; |
● | requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow to the payment of principal and interest on our indebtedness, which could impair our liquidity and reduce the availability of our cash flow to fund working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other important needs; |
● | increasing the possibility of an event of default under the financial and operating covenants contained in our debt instruments; and |
● | limiting our ability to adjust to rapidly changing conditions in the industry, reducing our ability to withstand competitive pressures and making us more vulnerable to a downturn in general economic conditions or business than our competitors with relatively lower levels of debt. |
If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow from operations to service our debt, we may be required to refinance all or a portion of our existing debt or obtain additional financing. We cannot assure you that any such refinancing would be possible or that any additional financing could be obtained. Our inability to obtain such refinancing or financing may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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In addition, several of our financing arrangements contain a number of covenants and restrictions including limits on our ability and our subsidiaries’ ability to incur additional debt, pay dividends and make certain investments. Complying with these covenants may cause us to take actions that make it more difficult to successfully execute our business strategy and we may face competition from companies not subject to such restrictions. Moreover, our failure to comply with these covenants could result in an event of default or refusal by our creditors to renew certain of our loans which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operation and prospects. In the past, we have not been in compliance with certain applicable debt covenants in our financing arrangements.
If we experience challenges with respect to labor relations, our overall operating costs and profitability could be adversely affected, and our reputation could be harmed.
If we fail to maintain good relations with our employees, we could suffer a strike or other significant work stoppage or other form of industrial action, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects and harm our reputation.
Fluctuations against the U.S. dollar in the local currencies in the countries in which we operate could have a material effect on our results of operations.
During the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, 3.3%, 3.3%, and 2.0%, respectively, of our revenue was generated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. A portion of our costs and expenses that were incurred outside of the United States were paid for in foreign currencies, mostly the local currencies of the Philippines, Jamaica, and Pakistan. During the year ended June 30, 2021, out of our total payroll and related costs, 26.2% were incurred in the Philippines Peso, 12.7% were incurred in the Jamaican Dollar and 8.8% were incurred in Pakistani Rupee. Because our financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars and revenues are primarily generated in U.S. dollars whereas some portion of the cost is incurred in foreign currencies, any significant unhedged fluctuations in the currency exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the currencies of countries in which we incur costs in local currencies will affect our results of operations and financial statements. This may also affect the comparability of our financial results from period to period, as we convert our subsidiaries’ statements of financial position into U.S. dollars from local currencies at the period-end exchange rate, and income and cash flow statements at average exchange rates for the year. See “Item 5A. Operating Results —Factors Affecting Our Operating Profit Margins” for more information.
In addition to our exposure to the Philippine Peso, Jamaican Dollar and Pakistani Rupee, we also have exposures to the Canadian Dollar, CFA Franc (XOF), Emirati Dirham, Euro, and Nicaraguan Cordoba. Of these, the Nicaraguan Cordoba is the most significant after the Philippine Peso, Jamaican Dollar and Pakistani Rupee.
As we increase our revenues from non-U.S. locations or expand our solution delivery or back office footprint to other international locations, this effect may be magnified. We may, in the future, engage in hedging strategies in an effort to reduce the adverse impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, which may not be successful. See “Item 5A. Operating Results —Factors Affecting Our Operating Profit Margins” for more information.
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The estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth included in this annual report may prove to be inaccurate, and even if the market in which we compete achieves the forecasted growth, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all.
Market opportunity estimates and growth forecasts are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may not prove to be accurate. The estimates and forecasts in this annual report relating to the size and expected growth of the market for our portfolio of integrated solutions may prove to be inaccurate. Any expansion in our market depends on a number of factors, including the cost, performance and perceived value associated with our solutions and those of our competitors. Even if the markets in which we currently compete meet the size estimates and growth forecasted in this annual report, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all. Our growth is subject to many factors, including our success in implementing our business strategy, which is subject to many risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, the forecasts of market growth included in this annual report should not be taken as indicative of our future growth.
We have entered into certain related-party transactions and may continue to rely on related parties for certain key development and support activities.
We have entered into, and may continue to enter into, transactions with affiliates of TRGI for corporate and operational services. See “Item 7B. Related Party Transactions.” Such transactions may not have been entered into on an arm’s-length basis, and we may have achieved more favorable terms because such transactions were entered into with our related parties. We rely on, and will continue to rely on, our related parties to maintain these services. If the pricing for these services changes, or if our related parties cease to provide these services, including by terminating agreements with us, we may be unable to obtain replacements for these services on the same terms without disruption to our business. This could have a material effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We may acquire other companies in pursuit of growth, which may divert our management’s attention, result in dilution to our shareholders and consume resources that are necessary to sustain our business.
We may decide to acquire complementary businesses in the future. Negotiating these transactions can be time-consuming, difficult and expensive, and our ability to complete these transactions may be subject to conditions or approvals that are beyond our control, including anti-takeover and antitrust laws in various jurisdictions. Consequently, these transactions, even if undertaken and announced, may not close.
An acquisition, investment or new business relationship may result in unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. In particular, we may encounter difficulties assimilating or integrating the businesses, technologies, services, products, personnel or operations of acquired companies, particularly if the key personnel of the acquired company choose not to work for us, the acquired company’s technology is not easily compatible with ours or we have difficulty retaining the customers of any acquired business due to changes in management or otherwise. Mergers or acquisitions may also disrupt our business, divert our resources and require significant management attention that would otherwise be available for the development of our business. Moreover, the anticipated benefits of any merger, acquisition, investment or similar partnership may not be realized or we may be exposed to unknown liabilities, including litigation against the companies we may acquire. For one or more of those transactions, we may:
● | issue additional equity securities that would dilute our shareholders; |
● | use cash that we may need in the future to operate our business; |
● | incur debt on terms unfavorable to us or that we are unable to repay or that may place burdensome restrictions on our operations or cash flows; |
● | incur large charges or substantial liabilities; or |
● | become subject to adverse tax consequences, or substantial depreciation or amortization, deferred compensation or other acquisition related accounting charges. |
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Any of these risks could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
Our facilities operate on leasehold property, and our inability to renew our leases on commercially acceptable terms or at all may adversely affect our results of operations.
Our facilities operate on leasehold property. Our leases are subject to renewal and we may be unable to renew such leases on commercially acceptable terms or at all. Our inability to renew our leases, or a renewal of our leases with a rental rate higher than the prevailing rate under the applicable lease prior to expiration, may have an adverse impact on our operations, including disrupting our operations or increasing our cost of operations. In addition, in the event of non-renewal of our leases, we may be unable to locate suitable replacement properties for our facilities or we may experience delays in relocation that could lead to a disruption in our operations. Any disruption in our operations could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operation.
If our goodwill or amortizable intangible assets become impaired, we could be required to record a significant charge to earnings.
We had goodwill and other intangible assets totaling $15.0 million as of June 30, 2021. We review our goodwill and amortizable intangible assets for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. We assess whether there has been an impairment in the value of goodwill at least annually. In the year ended June 30, 2021, we did not recognize any impairment of goodwill or intangible assets. In the year ended June 30, 2020, we recognized an impairment of intellectual property intangibles of $0.7 million. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019, we recognized a $0.2 million impairment of intangibles due to the disposal of DGS EDU LLC. Factors that may be considered a change in circumstances indicating that the carrying value of our goodwill or amortizable intangible assets may not be recoverable include declines in stock price, market capitalization or cash flows and slower growth rates in our industry. We could be required to record a significant charge to earnings in our financial statements during the period in which any impairment of our goodwill or amortizable intangible assets were determined, negatively impacting our results of operations. For more information, please refer to our audited consolidated financial statements included at the end of this annual report.
Our ability to use our U.S. net operating loss carry forwards may be subject to limitation.
As of June 30, 2021, we had estimated U.S. federal net operating loss carry forwards of $16.2 million and U.S. state net operating loss carry forwards of $36.9 million, which will begin to expire in 2030. As of that same date, our European and UK subsidiaries had net operating loss carry forwards of $4.3 million, which can be carried forward indefinitely with no expiry date. Our Luxembourg subsidiary had net operating loss of $1.2 million which will begin to expire in 2037. Our Canadian subsidiary had net operating loss carry forward of $2.3 million, which will begin to expire in 2028. Our subsidiary in Senegal has net operating loss carry forward of $2.7 million which will begin to expire in 2022. The timing and manner in which we may utilize net operating losses may be limited by tax rules regarding changes in ownership and a lack of future taxable income which could adversely affect our ability to utilize our net operating losses before they expire. In general, net operating losses in one country cannot be used to offset income in any other country and net operating losses in one state cannot be used to offset income in any other state. Accordingly, we may be subject to tax in certain jurisdictions even if we have unused net operating losses in other jurisdictions. Furthermore, each jurisdiction in which we operate may have its own limitations on our ability to utilize net operating losses or tax credit carryovers generated in that jurisdiction. These limitations may increase our U.S. federal, state or foreign income tax liability.
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Risks Related to Being Incorporated in Bermuda
Tax matters, new legislation and actions by taxing authorities may have an adverse effect on our operations, effective tax rate and financial condition.
We may not be able to predict our future tax liabilities due to the international nature of our operations, as we are subject to the complex and varying tax laws and rules of several foreign jurisdictions. Our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected if tax contingencies are resolved adversely or if we become subject to increased levels of taxation.
We are also subject to income taxes in the United States and numerous other foreign jurisdictions. Our tax expense and cash tax liability in the future could be adversely affected by numerous factors, including, but not limited to, changes in tax laws, regulations, accounting principles or interpretations and the potential adverse outcome of tax examinations and pending tax-related litigation. Changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, which may result from a decline in our profitability or changes in tax rates or legislation, could have a material adverse effect on our tax expense. The governments of foreign jurisdictions from which we deliver solutions may assert that certain of our clients have a “permanent establishment” in such foreign jurisdictions by reason of the activities we perform on their behalf, particularly those clients that exercise control over or have substantial dependency on our solutions. Such an assertion could affect the size and scope of the solutions requested by such clients in the future.
Transfer pricing regulations, to which we are subject, require that any transaction among us and our subsidiaries be on arm’s-length terms. If the applicable tax authorities were to determine that the transactions among us and our subsidiaries do not meet arm’s length criteria, we may incur increased tax liability, including accrued interest and penalties. Such increase on our tax expenses would reduce our profitability and cash flows.
On December 5, 2017, following an assessment of the tax policies of various countries by the Code of Conduct Group for Business Taxation of the European Union, the Council of the European Union (the “Council”) approved and published Council conclusions containing a list of “non-cooperative jurisdictions” for tax purposes. In response to the Council’s findings, on December 31, 2018, the Bermuda government enacted the Economic Substance Act 2018, and related regulations, as subsequently amended (the “Substance Act”), with effect from July 1, 2019 for existing Bermuda entities, requiring certain entities in Bermuda engaged in “relevant activities” to maintain a substantial economic presence in Bermuda and to satisfy economic substance requirements. The list of “relevant activities” includes holding entities, and the legislation requires Bermuda companies engaging in a “relevant activity” to be locally managed and directed, to carry on core income generating activities in Bermuda, to maintain adequate physical presence in Bermuda, and to have an adequate level of local full time qualified employees and incur adequate operating expenditure in Bermuda. Under the Substance Act, any entity that must satisfy economic substance requirements but fails to do so could face automatic disclosure to competent authorities in the European Union of the information filed by the entity with the Bermuda Registrar of Companies in connection with the economic substance requirements and may also face financial penalties, restriction or regulation of its business activities or may be struck as a registered entity in Bermuda. As a result of implementing the Substance Act, Bermuda does not currently appear on the Council’s list of “non-cooperative jurisdictions” for tax purposes and is therefore “white listed”. Although we believe we comply with the requirements of the Substance Act, we are not able to predict how the Bermuda authorities will interpret and enforce the Substance Act or the potential impact of compliance or noncompliance on our results of operations and financial condition.
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In addition, the United States enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “TCJA”), which has significantly changed the U.S. federal income tax system. Significant changes introduced by TCJA include reduction in US federal tax rate, limitations on the deductibility of interest expense and executive compensation, a base erosion focused minimum tax (the Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse tax), transitional tax, tangible property expensing, current tax on global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) and carry forward of net operating losses (“NOLs”). Moreover, the current U.S. administration and certain members of the U.S. Congress have stated that one of their top legislative priorities is significant reform of the Internal Revenue Code. Proposals by members of Congress have included, among other things, changes to U.S. federal tax rates and imposing additional taxes on payments by U.S. companies to their foreign affiliates. There is substantial uncertainty regarding both the timing and what will ultimately be included in any such tax reform. See “Item 10E. Taxation.”
Prospective investors should consult their tax advisors regarding the potential impact to them of the TCJA and any subsequent legislative changes and administrative guidance to them.
During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019, the Luxembourg tax authorities challenged our tax position with respect to a royalties-related tax exemption and, in response, we filed a petition to defend our position. In response to our petition, the Luxembourg tax authorities accepted our tax position and permitted the tax exemption, issuing a revised tax assessment on June 17, 2020.
Furthermore, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is leading an initiative under its base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project aimed at imposing a global minimum tax rate, with the intention of reaching an agreement on its proposals by late 2021. We do not know when, or if, the OECD’s proposals will be adopted; however, such proposals may have implications for international companies based in Bermuda. At this stage it is difficult to predict whether and to what extent any legislative changes that are adopted to implement the OECD’s proposals will impact us.
We may become subject to taxes in Bermuda after 2035, which may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and shareholders’ investments.
The Bermuda Minister of Finance, under the Exempted Undertakings Tax Protection Act 1966 of Bermuda, as amended, has given us assurances that if any legislation is enacted in Bermuda that would impose tax computed on profits or income, or computed on any capital asset, gain or appreciation, or any tax in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax, then the imposition of any such tax will not be applicable to us or any of our operations, shares, debentures or other obligations until March 31, 2035, except insofar as such tax applies to persons ordinarily residing in Bermuda or to any taxes payable by us in respect of real property owned or leased by us in Bermuda. See “Item 10E. Taxation.” Given the limited duration of the Bermuda Minister of Finance’s assurance, we cannot assure shareholders that we will not be subject to any Bermuda tax after March 31, 2035.
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We are a foreign private issuer and, as a result, we are not subject to U.S. proxy rules and will be subject to Exchange Act reporting obligations that, to some extent, are more lenient and less frequent than those of a U.S. domestic public company.
We report under the Exchange Act as a non-U.S. company with foreign private issuer status. Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act and although we are subject to Bermuda laws and regulations with regard to such matters and intend to furnish quarterly financial information to the SEC, we are exempt from certain provisions of the Exchange Act that are applicable to U.S. domestic public companies, including:
● | the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act; |
● | the sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their share ownership and trading activities and liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time; and |
● | the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the SEC of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q containing unaudited financial and other specified information, or current reports on Form 8-K, upon the occurrence of specified significant events. |
In addition, foreign private issuers are not required to file their annual report on Form 20-F until 120 days after the end of each fiscal year, while U.S. domestic issuers that are accelerated filers are required to file their annual report on Form 10-K within 75 days after the end of each fiscal year. Foreign private issuers are also exempt from Regulation Fair Disclosure, aimed at preventing issuers from making selective disclosures of material information. As a result of the above, you may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are not foreign private issuers.
As a foreign private issuer and a controlled company, we are not subject to certain Nasdaq corporate governance rules applicable to U.S. listed companies.
As a foreign private issuer, we rely on a provision in the Nasdaq corporate governance listing standards that allows us to follow Bermuda law with regard to certain aspects of corporate governance. This allows us to follow certain corporate governance practices that differ in significant respects from the corporate governance requirements applicable to U.S. companies listed on the Nasdaq Global Market.
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For example, we are exempt from Nasdaq regulations that require a listed U.S. company to:
● | have a majority of the board of directors consist of independent directors; |
● | require non-management directors to meet on a regular basis without management present; |
● | adopt a code of conduct and promptly disclose any waivers of the code for directors or executive officers that should address certain specified items; |
● | have an independent compensation committee; |
● | have an independent nominating committee; |
● | solicit proxies and provide proxy statements for all shareholder meetings; |
● | review related-party transactions; and |
● | seek shareholder approval for the implementation and modification of certain equity compensation plans and issuances of common shares. |
As a foreign private issuer, we are permitted to follow home country practice in lieu of the above requirements. In accordance with our Nasdaq Global Market listing, our audit committee is required to comply with the provisions of Section 301 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act, both of which are also applicable to U.S. companies listed on the Nasdaq Global Market. Because we are a foreign private issuer, however, our audit committee is not subject to additional Nasdaq corporate governance requirements applicable to listed U.S. companies, including the requirements to have a minimum of three members and to affirmatively determine that all members are “independent,” using more stringent criteria than those applicable to us as a foreign private issuer. These reduced compliance requirements may make our common shares less attractive to some investors, which could adversely affect their market price.
In the event we no longer qualify as a foreign private issuer, we intend to rely on the “controlled company” exemption under Nasdaq corporate governance rules. A “controlled company” under Nasdaq corporate governance rules is a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company. Our principal shareholder, TRGI, controls a majority of the voting power of our outstanding shares, making us a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq corporate governance rules. As a controlled company, we are eligible to, and, in the event we no longer qualify as a foreign private issuer, we intend to, elect not to comply with certain of corporate governance standards.
We may lose our foreign private issuer status which would then require us to comply with the Exchange Act’s domestic reporting regime and cause us to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses.
We are a foreign private issuer and therefore we are not required to comply with all of the periodic disclosure and current reporting requirements of the Exchange Act applicable to U.S. domestic issuers. In order to maintain our current status as a foreign private issuer, either:
● | a majority of our common shares must be either directly or indirectly owned of record by non-residents of the United States; or |
● | a majority of our “executive officers” or directors may not be U.S. citizens or residents, more than 50% of our assets cannot be located in the United States, and our business must be administered principally outside the United States. |
A majority of our executives, assets and business are located in and managed from the United States. As a result, if a majority of our common shares become either directly or indirectly owned of record by United States residents, we will lose our foreign private issuer status. If we lost this status, we would be required to comply with the Exchange Act reporting and other requirements applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, which are more detailed and extensive than the requirements for foreign private issuers.
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We may also be required to make changes in our corporate governance practices in accordance with various SEC and Nasdaq rules. The regulatory and compliance costs to us under U.S. securities laws if we are required to comply with the reporting requirements applicable to a U.S. domestic issuer may be significantly higher than the cost we would incur as a foreign private issuer. As a result, we expect that a loss of foreign private issuer status would increase our legal and financial compliance costs and would make some activities more time consuming and costly. We also expect that if we were required to comply with the rules and regulations applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, it would make it more difficult and expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These rules and regulations could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors.
Bermuda law differs from the laws in effect in the United States and may afford less protection to holders of our common shares.
We are incorporated under the laws of Bermuda. As a result, our corporate affairs are governed by the Companies Act 1981, as amended (the “Companies Act”) which differs in some material respects from laws typically applicable to U.S. corporations and shareholders, including the provisions relating to interested directors, amalgamations, mergers and acquisitions, takeovers, shareholder lawsuits and indemnification of directors. Generally, the duties of directors and officers of a Bermuda company are owed to the company only. Shareholders of Bermuda companies typically do not have rights to take action against directors or officers of the company and may only do so in limited circumstances. Class actions are not available under Bermuda law. The circumstances in which derivative actions may be available under Bermuda law are substantially more prescribed and less clear than they would be to shareholders of U.S. corporations. The Bermuda courts, however, would ordinarily be expected to permit a shareholder to commence an action in the name of a company to remedy a wrong to the company where the act complained of is alleged to be beyond the corporate power of the company or illegal, or would result in the violation of the company’s memorandum of association or bye-laws. Furthermore, consideration would be given by a Bermuda court to acts that are alleged to constitute a fraud against the minority shareholders or, for instance, where an act requires the approval of a greater percentage of the company’s shareholders than that which actually approved it. However, our bye-laws contain a provision by virtue of which unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York will be the exclusive forum for any private action asserting violations by us or any of our directors or officers of the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, or the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, and of all suits in equity and actions at law brought to enforce any liability or duty created by those statutes or the rules and regulations under such statutes. If any action the subject matter of which is within the scope of the preceding sentence is filed in a court other than the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the plaintiff or plaintiffs shall be deemed by this provision of the bye-laws (i) to have consented to removal of the action by us to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, in the case of an action filed in a state court, and (ii) to have consented to transfer of the action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404 to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Accordingly, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provision with respect to claims under the Securities Act, and in any event, our shareholders cannot waive compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. If a court were to find the choice of forum provision to be unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
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When the affairs of a company are being conducted in a manner that is oppressive or prejudicial to the interests of some shareholders, one or more shareholders may apply to the Supreme Court of Bermuda, which may make such order as it sees fit, including an order regulating the conduct of the company’s affairs in the future or ordering the purchase of the shares of any shareholders by other shareholders or by the company. In addition, under our bye-laws and as permitted by Bermuda law, each shareholder has waived any claim or right of action against our directors or officers for any action taken by directors or officers in the performance of their duties, except for actions involving fraud or dishonesty. In addition, the rights of holders of our common shares and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Bermuda law are not as clearly established as under statutes or judicial precedent in existence in jurisdictions in the United States, particularly the State of Delaware. Therefore, holders of our common shares may have more difficulty protecting their interests than would shareholders of a corporation incorporated in a jurisdiction within the United States.
Any U.S. or other foreign judgments you may obtain against us may be difficult to enforce against us in Bermuda.
We are incorporated in Bermuda and a significant portion of our assets is located outside the United States. In addition, certain of our directors are non-residents of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for U.S. investors to serve process within the United States upon us or our directors and executive officers, or to enforce a judgment against us for civil liabilities in U.S. courts.
In addition, you should not assume that courts in the countries in which we are incorporated or where our assets are located would enforce judgments of U.S. courts obtained in actions against us based upon the civil liability provisions of applicable U.S. federal and state securities laws or would enforce, in original actions, liabilities against us based on those laws.
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Risks Related to Our Common Shares
The market price of our common shares may be volatile.
The stock market in general, and the market for equities of newly public companies in particular, have been highly volatile. As a result, the market price of our common shares is likely to be similarly volatile, and investors in our common shares may experience a decrease, which could be substantial, in the value of their common shares, including decreases unrelated to our operating performance or prospects, or a complete loss of their investment. The price of our common shares could be subject to significant fluctuations in response to a number of factors, including those listed elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section and others such as:
● | variations in our operating performance and the performance of our competitors; |
● | actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly or annual operating results; |
● | changes in our revenues or earnings estimates or recommendations by securities analysts; |
● | publication of research reports by securities analysts about us or our competitors in our industry; |
● | failure of securities analysts to initiate or maintain coverage of us, changes in ratings and financial estimates and the publication of other news by any securities analysts who follow our company, or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors; |
● | our failure or the failure of our competitors to meet analysts’ projections or guidance that we or our competitors may give to the market; |
● | additions or departures of key personnel; |
● | strategic decisions by us or our competitors, such as acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs, joint ventures, strategic investments or changes in business strategy; |
● | announcement of technological innovations by us or our competitors; |
● | the passage of legislation, changes in interpretations of laws or other regulatory events or developments affecting us; |
● | speculation in the press or investment community; |
● | changes in accounting principles; |
● | terrorist acts, acts of war or periods of widespread civil unrest; |
● | health pandemics (including COVID-19); |
● | changes in general market and economic conditions; |
● | changes or trends in our industry; |
● | investors’ perception of our prospects; and |
● | adverse resolution of any new or pending litigation against us. |
In the past, securities class action litigation has often been initiated against companies following periods of volatility in their stock price. This type of litigation could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention and resources and could also require us to make substantial payments to satisfy judgments or to settle or defend litigation.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research about our business, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research, the price and trading volume of our common shares could decline.
The market for our common shares will likely depend, in part, on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. There can be no assurance that analysts will cover us or provide favorable coverage. In addition, if one or more analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our share price or trading volume to decline. Moreover, if one or more analysts downgrade our common shares or change their opinion of our common shares, our share price would likely decline.
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Our future earnings and earnings per share, as reported under IFRS as issued by the IASB, could be adversely impacted by the Amazon Warrant and if Amazon exercises its right to acquire our common shares pursuant to the Amazon Warrant, it will dilute the ownership interests of our then-existing shareholders and could adversely affect the market price of our common shares.
The Amazon Warrant increases the number of diluted shares reported, which has an effect on our fully diluted earnings per share. Further, the Amazon Warrant will be presented as a liability in our audited consolidated balance sheet and is subject to fair value measurement adjustments during the periods that it is outstanding. Accordingly, future fluctuations in the fair value of the Amazon Warrant could adversely impact our results of operations. If Amazon exercises its right to acquire our common shares pursuant to the Amazon Warrant, it will dilute the ownership interests of our then-existing shareholders and reduce our earnings per share. In addition, any sales in the public market of any common shares issuable upon the exercise of the Amazon Warrant by Amazon could adversely affect the market price of our common shares.
For more information, see our audited consolidated financial statements included at the end of this annual report.
We may not pay any dividends. Accordingly, investors may only realize future gains on their investments if the price of their common shares increases, which may never occur.
We have never declared or paid any dividends, other than (i) a dividend declared by one of our subsidiaries during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2017, the remaining $1.6 million of which was paid during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 and (ii) on July 21, 2020, our board of directors approved a one-time dividend of $4.0 million to our shareholders reflecting a portion of the cash generation from the business during fiscal year 2020. We currently do not plan to declare dividends on our common shares in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain all of our future earnings, if any, to finance the growth and development of our business. The payment of dividends, if any, would be at the discretion of our board of directors and would depend on our results of operations, capital requirements, financial condition, prospects, contractual arrangements, any limitations on payment of dividends present in our current and future debt agreements and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. Accordingly, if our board of directors deems it appropriate not to pay any dividends, our investors may only realize future gains on their investments if the price of their common shares increases, which may never occur.
We are an emerging growth company, and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies may make our common shares less attractive to investors.
We are an emerging growth company (“EGC”), as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act”), and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not EGCs including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), reduced financial disclosure obligations, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We may take advantage of these provisions until we are no longer an EGC. We would cease to be an EGC upon the earliest to occur of: the last day of the fiscal year in which we have more than $1.07 billion in annual revenue; the date we qualify as a “large accelerated filer,” with at least $700 million of equity securities held by non-affiliates; the issuance, in any three-year period, by us of more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities; and the last day of the fiscal year ending after the fifth anniversary of our initial public offering. If we take advantage of any of these reduced reporting requirements in future filings, the information that we provide our security holders may be different than you might get from other public companies in which you hold equity interests. We cannot predict if investors will find our common shares less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common shares less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common shares and our share price may be more volatile.
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If we are unable to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, our results of operations and the price of our common shares could be adversely affected.
During the audit for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the execution and review of complex accounting matters. Due to a failure in procedures with respect to the execution, review, supervision and monitoring of complex accounting matters, a number of adjustments were identified and made to the consolidated financial statements during the course of our audit.
We cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, and actions we may take in the future, will prevent potential future material weaknesses. In addition, our independent registered public accounting firm has not performed an evaluation of our internal control over financial reporting in accordance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act because no such evaluation has been required to date. Once we no longer qualify as an EGC, the independent registered public accounting firm that audits our financial statements will also be required to audit our internal control over financial reporting. Any delays or difficulty in satisfying these requirements could adversely affect our future results of operations and the price of our shares. Moreover, it may cost us more than we expect to comply with these control- and procedure-related requirements. Failure to comply with Section 404 or to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations could potentially result in a loss in investor confidence in our reported financial information and subject us to sanctions or investigations by regulatory authorities.
If we are unable to successfully remediate any future material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, or identify any additional material weaknesses, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting may be adversely affected, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports in addition to applicable stock exchange listing requirements, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting, and our share price may decline as a result.
We will incur increased costs and demands upon management as a result of complying with the laws and regulations affecting public companies, particularly after we are no longer an EGC, which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
As a public company, and particularly after we cease to be an EGC, we will incur significantly greater legal, accounting and other expenses than we incurred as a private company. We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”), and Nasdaq rules and regulations. These requirements have increased and will continue to increase our legal, accounting and financial compliance costs and have made and will continue to make some activities more time consuming and costly. For example, we expect these rules and regulations to make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to maintain the same or similar coverage. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our board of directors or as our executive officers.
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The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we assess the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting annually and the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures quarterly. In particular, Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (“Section 404”), will require us to perform system and process evaluation and testing of our internal control over financial reporting to allow management to report on, and our independent registered public accounting firm potentially to attest to, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. As an EGC, we expect to avail ourselves of the exemption from the requirement that our independent registered public accounting firm attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting under Section 404. However, we may no longer avail ourselves of this exemption when we cease to be an EGC. When our independent registered public accounting firm is required to undertake an assessment of our internal control over financial reporting, the cost of our compliance with Section 404 will correspondingly increase. Our compliance with applicable provisions of Section 404 will require that we incur substantial accounting expense and expend significant management time on compliance-related issues as we implement additional corporate governance practices and comply with reporting requirements. Moreover, if we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 applicable to us in a timely manner, or if we or our independent registered public accounting firm identify deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses, the market price of our shares could decline and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which would require additional financial and management resources.
Furthermore, investor perceptions of our company may suffer if deficiencies are found, and this could cause a decline in the market price of our common shares. Irrespective of compliance with Section 404, any failure of our internal control over financial reporting could have a material adverse effect on our stated operating results and harm our reputation. If we are unable to implement these requirements effectively or efficiently, it could harm our operations, financial reporting, or financial results and could result in an adverse opinion on our internal control from our independent registered public accounting firm.
After we are no longer an EGC, or sooner if we choose not to take advantage of certain exemptions set forth in the JOBS Act, we expect to incur significant expenses and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404. In that regard, we will need to hire additional accounting and financial staff with appropriate public company experience and technical accounting knowledge.
Certain U.S. holders of our common shares may suffer adverse U.S. tax consequences if we are characterized as a passive foreign investment company.
Based on our gross income and average value of our gross assets, and our current share price, as well as the nature of our business, we do not expect to be classified as a “passive foreign investment company,” or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax for the current tax year or in tax years in the foreseeable future. A corporation organized outside the United States generally will be classified as a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes in any taxable year in which at least 75% of its gross income is passive income or on average at least 50% of the gross value of its assets is attributable to assets that produce passive income or are held for the production of passive income. Passive income for this purpose generally includes dividends, interest, royalties, rents and gains from commodities and securities transactions. Our status in any taxable year will depend on our assets and activities in each year, and because this is a factual determination made annually after the end of each taxable year, there can be no assurance that we will not be considered a PFIC for the current taxable year or any future taxable year. The market value of our assets may be determined in large part by reference to the market price of our common shares, which is likely to fluctuate. If we were to be treated as a PFIC for any taxable year during which a U.S. holder held our common shares, however, certain adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences could apply to the U.S. holder.
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Our executive officers, directors and principal shareholders have the ability to control all matters submitted to shareholders for approval.
Our executive officers, directors and shareholder who own more than 5% of our outstanding common shares, which we refer to as our principal shareholder, beneficially owns shares representing approximately 70% of our outstanding common shares. As a result, if some or all of these shareholders were to choose to act together, they would be able to control all matters submitted to our shareholders for approval, as well as our management and affairs. For example, these persons, if they choose to act together, would control the election of directors and approval of any merger, amalgamation, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. This concentration of voting power could delay or prevent an acquisition of our company on terms that other shareholders may desire.
Our largest shareholder, The Resource Group International Limited, and its major shareholder, TRG Pakistan Limited, have substantial control over us and could limit your ability to influence the outcome of key transactions, including any change of control.
As of September 1, 2021, our largest shareholder, TRGI, beneficially owns, in the aggregate, approximately 62% of our outstanding common shares. As of June 30, 2021, TRG Pakistan Limited (“TRGP”), a publicly traded Pakistan corporation listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, beneficially owned 46% of TRGI’s outstanding voting securities (45% if all outstanding non-voting common shares are converted into voting common shares). The members of the boards of directors of TRGP and TRGI have substantial overlap. Peter Riepenhausen serves as the chairman and director of both TRGP and TRGI. Zia Chishti serves as a director of both TRGP and TRGI and is also TRGP’s largest shareholder and a significant shareholder in TRGI. In addition, Mohammed Khaishgi serves on the boards of directors of TRGP, TRGI and TRGI’s portfolio management company, TRG Holdings.
Additionally, pursuant to a stockholder’s agreement, dated September 15, 2017, between TRGI and us (the “TRGI Stockholder’s Agreement”), we will not take or commit to take, or cause or permit any of our subsidiaries to take, certain enumerated actions without TRGI’s consent, to be withheld or given in TRGI’s sole discretion. The TRGI Stockholder’s Agreement will remain in effect until the date that TRGI ceases to hold 10% or more of all shares issued by us, as measured on an as-converted basis. As a result, we expect that TRGP and TRGI will be able to exert significant influence over our business. TRGP and TRGI may have interests that differ from your interests and may cause TRGI’s shares in our company to be voted in a way with which you disagree and that may be adverse to your interests. The concentration of ownership of our share capital may have the effect of delaying, preventing or deterring a change of control of our company and its subsidiaries, as well as certain M&A activity and securities offerings, and could deprive our shareholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their common shares as part of a sale of our company and may adversely affect the market price of our common shares. In addition, because of TRGI’s majority ownership of our company, even if we no longer qualify as a foreign private issuer, we may be able to take advantage of many of the same exemptions from the Nasdaq corporate governance rules for as long as we continue to qualify as a “controlled company” within the meaning of the Nasdaq corporate governance standards. See “As a foreign private issuer, we are not subject to certain Nasdaq corporate governance rules applicable to U.S. listed companies.” Our bye-laws provide that any shareholder holding 50% or more of the nominal value of our voting shares will have the right to appoint five directors to our board of directors. If there is no such 50% holder, then any shareholder holding 25% or more of the nominal value of our voting shares (first in time as compared to any other 25% shareholder) will have the right to appoint five directors to our board of directors.
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A significant portion of our total outstanding shares may be sold into the market in the near future. This could cause the market price of our common shares to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.
Sales of a substantial number of our common shares in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common shares. As of September 1, 2021, we have 18,471,563 outstanding common shares. Of these common shares, 6,846,985 shares are freely tradable, without restriction, in the public market. Certain of our security holders have rights, subject to some conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering common shares that it holds or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or for other shareholders.
Anti-takeover provisions in our bye-laws could make an acquisition of us, which may be beneficial to our shareholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by our shareholders to replace or remove our current management.
Provisions in our bye-laws may delay or prevent an acquisition of us or a change in our management. In addition, by making it more difficult for shareholders to replace members of our board of directors, these provisions also may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our shareholders to replace or remove our current management because our board of directors is responsible for appointing the members of our management team. These provisions include:
● | the ability of our board of directors to determine the rights, preferences and privileges of our preferred shares and to issue the preferred shares without shareholder approval; and |
● | the ability of major shareholders (i.e., shareholders holding 50% or more; in the absence of such a holder, 25% or more) to appoint directors to the Board. |
These provisions could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if the third party’s offer may be considered beneficial by many shareholders. As a result, shareholders may be limited in their ability to obtain a premium for their shares.
We have the ability to issue preferred shares without shareholder approval.
Our common shares may be subordinate to classes of preferred shares issued in the future in the payment of dividends and other distributions made with respect to the common shares, including distributions upon liquidation or dissolution. Our board of directors is authorized to issue preferred shares without first obtaining shareholder approval. If we issue preferred shares, it will create additional securities that may have dividend or liquidation preferences senior to the common shares. If we issue convertible preferred shares, a subsequent conversion may dilute the current common shareholders’ interest.
ITEM 4. INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY
A. History and development of the company
Company History
We were incorporated by TRGI in 2017 for the purpose of delivering solutions to help the world’s preeminent brands more effectively engage with their customers as a leading global customer experience (“CX”) company. Prior to June 30, 2017, our business was conducted through various wholly- or majority-owned portfolio companies of TRGI, which we refer to as the Continuing Business Entities. The predecessor companies for our Customer Engagement and Customer Expansion solutions were established in 1996 and acquired by TRGI in 2004. The predecessor company for our Customer Experience solution was established in 1984 and acquired by TRGI in 2004. The predecessor company for our Customer Acquisition business was founded as a subsidiary of TRGI in 2008.
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On June 30, 2017, TRGI completed a series of transactions constituting the Reorganization Transaction, as a result of which TRGI acquired 4,254,221 of our convertible preference shares and 6,140,713 of our common shares (representing 88.5% of our outstanding common shares as of such date) and the Continuing Business Entities became our wholly owned direct and indirect subsidiaries. We consider the Reorganization Transaction to be a transaction between entities under common control as all of the combining entities or businesses were ultimately controlled by TRGI both before and after the Reorganization Transaction and such control was not transitory.
In addition, in connection with the consummation of the Reorganization Transaction, Mr. Jeffrey Cox, a member of our executive leadership team, and Mr. Anthony Solazzo, the chief executive officer of our discontinued operation Etelequote Limited, acquired minority interests in our company (322,599 and 478,115 common shares, respectively). The number of common shares of IBEX Limited issued to Messrs. Cox and Solazzo was determined based on the relative values of their respective minority interests in two of the Continuing Business Entities that were contributed by TRGI to our company. The relative values of those entities were not dependent upon the price at which common shares were sold but rather was determined on the basis of independent third-party valuations of two Continuing Business Entities and our company.
In connection with the Reorganization Transaction, we provided an indemnity to Mr. Solazzo. Our indemnification obligation is capped at $2.0 million. No claim under the indemnity has been made, and we believe that any material indemnity exposure for us is remote.
One of the Continuing Business Entities, DGS Limited, entered into a “Profit Share Agreement” dated as of June 30, 2017 with Mr. Cox whereby, in exchange for his services as chief executive officer of that entity, Mr. Cox received 13.9% of any cash dividends paid by DGS Limited to us. Mr. Cox was paid $0.2 million under that agreement, which expired by its terms on June 30, 2018. The parties entered into a new Profit Share Agreement, effective as of June 30, 2019, whereby in exchange for his services as chief executive officer of DGS Limited, Mr. Cox received a fee equal to 16.18% of any cash dividends paid by DGS Limited to us. Mr. Cox was paid $0.1 million under the Profit Share Agreement, which expired by its terms on June 30, 2020.
Spin-off of Etelequote Limited to our Parent Company
On June 26, 2019, we transferred all of our equity interests in Etelequote Limited to our parent company, TRGI. In consideration of the share transfer, TRGI agreed to waive $47.9 million of the aggregate preference amount to which the Series C preferred shares that were held by it were entitled upon a voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution or winding up after holders of our Series A preferred shares and Series B preferred shares would receive their respective entitlements. The $47.9 million amount represents the agreed purchase price for the share transfer. As a result of the ETQ Spin-off, Etelequote Limited is no longer a part of our ongoing business and is treated as a discontinued operation as of June 30, 2019 and for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2018. For more information on the ETQ Spin-off, refer to Note 30.2 in our audited consolidated financial statements at the end of this annual report.
We are an exempted company with limited liability under the laws of Bermuda. We were incorporated on February 28, 2017 under the name Forward March Limited. We changed our name to IBEX Holdings Limited on September 15, 2017 and then changed our name to IBEX Limited on September 11, 2019. We maintain a registered office located at Crawford House, 50 Cedar Avenue, Hamilton HM11 Bermuda, and the telephone number for this office is (441) 295-6500. Our website address is http://www.ibex.co.
Emerging Growth Company
The JOBS Act was enacted in April 2012 with the intention of encouraging capital formation in the United States and reducing the regulatory burden on newly public companies that qualify as EGCs. We are an EGC within the meaning of the JOBS Act. As an EGC, we are not required to, among other things, (i) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (ii) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging
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growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Act, (iii) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis), and (iv) disclose certain executive compensation-related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the chief executive officer’s compensation to median employee compensation. We may take advantage of these exemptions until we are no longer an EGC.
We will remain an EGC until the earliest to occur of:
● | the last day of the fiscal year in which we have more than $1.07 billion in annual revenues; |
● | the date on which we become a “large accelerated filer” (the fiscal year-end on which at least $700 million of equity securities are held by non-affiliates as of the last day of our then-most recently completed second fiscal quarter); |
● | the date on which we have issued, in any three-year period, more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities; and |
● | the last day of the fiscal year ending after the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering. |
For more information see “Item 3D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Common Shares.” The reduced disclosure requirements applicable to EGCs may make our common shares less attractive to investors due to certain risks related to our status as an EGC.
Controlled Company Status
We qualify as a “controlled company” under Nasdaq rules because more than 50% of the voting power of our shares are held by TRGI. We intend to rely upon the “controlled company” exception relating to the board of directors and committee independence requirements under the Nasdaq listing rules. Pursuant to this exception, we will be exempt from the rules that would otherwise require that our board of directors consist of a majority of independent directors and that our compensation committee and nominating and governance committee be composed entirely of independent directors. The “controlled company” exception does not modify the independence requirements for the audit committee, and we intend to comply with the requirements of the Exchange Act and Nasdaq, which require that our audit committee have a majority of independent directors, and exclusively independent directors within one year following the effective date of our registration statement. For more information, see “Item 3D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Being Incorporated in Bermuda—As a foreign private issuer and a controlled company, we are not subject to certain Nasdaq corporate governance rules applicable to U.S. listed companies.”
Recent Developments
New Facilities
In August 2021, we announced the scheduled opening of our new customer experience center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, encompassing 33,000 square-feet of space with an anticipated opening date of October 1, 2021.
In September 2021, we announced our entry into Honduras with the scheduled opening of our new customer experience delivery center in Tegucigalpa in November 2021.
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B. Business overview
Industry Overview
The race to transform Customer Experience (CX) business models in a rapidly evolving digital world is a critical driver of success for many companies. While the need to adapt has been a priority for companies for the past several years, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this movement, forcing businesses to rethink how they engage and retain their customers, whose habits and lifestyles have dramatically changed. This makes CX a key factor in today’s hyper-competitive economy and often the top priority for a company’s executive leadership.
The concept of digital transformation begins with customer engagement. The use of digital channels increased, while the ability to leverage digital and traditional channels in an integrated fashion in order to meet ever-evolving, fluid customer needs which we refer to as “integrated omni-channel” has become critical. This brings about a need for a new type of partner, one with expertise and capabilities that can help a company analyze its CX and then deliver on creating great experiences.
We believe that having a unique and deeply engaged front line of expert customer engagement professionals to deliver exceptional CX across all delivery channels is critical for companies to successfully implement these strategies. The past labor arbitrage-only approach is obsolete and the demand for fast and flexible service is required for success in the future.
Technology and deep customer relationships are at the forefront of the leading digital-first companies. This has radically altered the market in which we operate as it has put CX front and center on our clients’ list of priorities. In our experience, clients continue to look to a different breed of outsourcing partners to provide CX services for them. In particular, clients are seeking disruptive technology providers and partners to elevate their customer experiences and become their CX partners of choice.
As a result of these trends, there is a target market for CX providers of clients that are experiencing rapid growth across all markets and verticals. These companies are impacting our daily lives in many ways – how we shop, how and where we dine, how we watch our favorite shows, movies and series and how we invest our personal assets.
We, as a company, seek to accelerate our clients’ growth through our delivery of end-to-end customer engagement solutions. Our business model centers around a customer-centric approach, where every decision made, every solution developed, and every area of investment has the customer top of mind.
We understand our role, which is to improve CX in an omni-channel world and be our clients’ trusted provider in delivering a highly differentiated customer experience.
Business Overview
We are a leading provider of customer support services that helps drive extraordinary customer experiences for many of the world’s most recognized brands.
We combine our strong heritage of delivering world-class CX operations delivery with best-in-class services and solutions that span omnichannel customer engagement and support, digital marketing and customer experience management to help our clients measure customer sentiment and deliver a superior CX to their end-customers.
Leveraging our proprietary Wave X purpose-built technology platform, company culture and operational excellence, we help more than 125 clients create innovative and differentiated customer experiences to increase loyalty, enhance brand awareness and drive revenue in an era of rapid change and digital transformation.
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Over the span of five short years, we have transformed our business from a traditional business process outsourcer (BPO) of commoditized call center support to a technology-led provider and partner of choice for high-growth brands that are digitally transforming themselves. These brands span across e-commerce, retail, FinTech, HealthTech, streaming content, ride sharing and hospitality.
In FY2016, we pivoted our strategy to place a high priority on delivering great customer experiences across the customer lifecycle and to focus on clients who view CX as a competitive differentiator. Companies are looking for enhanced solutions beyond pure labor arbitrage. They require partners that can enhance their brand and customer loyalty. Key attributes include tech-led solutions, a highly connected culture and superior level of employee engagement, elevated branding, and a fast and effective path to operational proficiency. We call this BPO 2.0, and ibex is at the forefront of delivering these differentiated solutions at scale across our geographies.
Today, our business is experiencing significant growth with clients that require best-in-class performance and differentiated value propositions.
We are well-positioned for strong, sustainable, long-term growth.
Over the last seven years, our revenues have increased organically at a CAGR of 10.0%, growing from $227.4 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2014 (excluding any impact due to IFRS 15) to $443.7 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021. This growth rate is significantly greater than that of our constituent markets, especially the BPO industry, which according to IDC, grew at an annualized rate of 2.9% between 2015 and 2020.
In FY2020 and FY2021, we won more than 40 additional new customers across our Blue Chip and emerging New Economy client segments, bolstering our presence as a leading provider of customer engagement BPO and technology solutions in these spaces.
Since the start of FY16, we have attracted more than 60 new clients, which together represented approximately $230 million of revenue during in FY21. This resulted in a 84% revenue CAGR from FY16 to FY21, and 40% revenue growth from FY20 to FY21. These clients represented 52% of our revenues in FY21 and we expect them to continue to grow rapidly. Additionally, approximately 75% of these clients partner with us to provide them with integrated omni-channel solutions which we believe make our relationships with them stronger and more defensible. The remaining 25% are mature brands that are equally committed to delivering amazing experience through voice channels.
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We are extremely proud of the diversification we have achieved in our business. As we completed FY15 and enacted our new strategy in FY16 and beyond, our top five clients represented 75% of our business and our top 10 represented 82% of total business. Our 25th largest client spent less than $1 million dollars with us annually.
As we completed FY21, these numbers vastly improved. Our 25th largest client invested more than three times the amount of revenue with us versus FY15. In addition, we have experienced 100% retention of our top 20 clients since FY18.
The following table demonstrates how impactful our strategy shift has been:
The growth of our business can be seen throughout our top 25 clients. During FY21, our top five clients include two new clients, half of our top 10 client list is new and our top 25 list of clients have 19 new clients since FY15. The revenues billed from clients 6-10 has grown from $19.9 million to $89.5 million - a CAGR of 28.4%, while the revenues from clients 11-25 have increased to $87.7 million from $26.4 million.
Our growth strategy is predicated on four growth pillars. Together, they serve as the catalyst for delivering business solutions that help our clients as they tackle their toughest business challenges, while providing differentiated and real-time experiences for their end-customers.
The foundation of our success is based on four primary growth pillars: (1) the ability to harness innovative technology that creates increased efficiencies for our business and our clients’ business (2) our strong track record of delivering best-in-class operations (3) a high-performing company culture that breeds expertise and real-world knowledge amongst a very talented employee base and (4) a customer-devoted mentality that breeds loyalty and long-term relationships. This loyalty is evidenced by the extended relationships we have with our customers.
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Our broad portfolio of CX services and technology solutions give our clients a competitive advantage, while also providing them with the ability to deliver a relevant and differentiating experience for their customers.
We partner with companies ranging from large Fortune 100 companies to young, emerging brands to drive their customer engagement in ways that will revolutionize the way consumers connect and invest in their brands of choice harnessing the power of technology.
Wave X is the hub of technology development and innovation at ibex. The Wave X platform powers enhanced agent interactions, exceptional client CX, and overall better performance.
Wave X is a differentiated suite of digital and technology solutions across the agent lifecycle to ensure our agents are best equipped to delight customers across all phases of the customer lifecycle, and multiple channels, customized to a client’s specific need. This capability allows us to provide innovative, automated and customizable solutions to our clients more efficiently versus a pure labor arbitrage-based delivery model. We believe these technologies will enable us to outperform our competition.
Our strategy places our clients at the heart of everything we do and is built on providing world-class operations and CX delivery capabilities that enable differentiating and relevant customer engagement.
Our global delivery model is built on onshore, nearshore and offshore customer experience delivery centers, which includes a unique ability to support work-at-home capabilities in any region.
From June 2019 to December of 2021, we expect to have experienced 125% growth in nearshore/offshore capacity while shrinking our domestic capacity by more than 20%. As of October 1, 2021, 74% of our capacity now resides in our high-growth offshore and nearshore markets.
Nearly 90% of our capacity today resides in our high margin regions.
We operate state-of-the-art CX delivery centers in labor markets that we believe are underpenetrated. This helps us maintain our competitive advantage, retain our position in those labor markets as an employer of choice, and deliver a highly scalable and cost-effective solution to our clients. These delivery centers enable us to create a differentiated connection to our clients’ brands and customers.
In addition, with a broad network of 33 contact centers (as of October 1, 2021 and growing) spread across multiple geographies, we provide much needed geographic diversity for our clients. In particular, significant investments made in nearshore sites, such as Jamaica and Nicaragua, enable us to offer untapped talent pools for high-quality service, operations with a close proximity to our professionals’ homes, competitive price points, and an existing brand affinity. Moving forward, we are laser focused on growing our brand and market presence worldwide.
We deploy a customer-centric, employee driven culture which enables our workforce to do their best work on behalf of our clients.
We believe that we have one of the best cultures in the industry. As a testament to our culture, nearly 40% of our workforce is made up of family, friends and colleagues who were referred to us by our employees. Our culture is distinctive – built by and for the individuals that represent our clients’ brands with each and every contact. Our commitment to those individuals exceeds anything in our industry, as evidenced by our unprecedented employee Net Promoter Score (ENPS) of 71.
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At the foundation of our culture are three primary principals:
1. | Be the best employer in the markets we serve – We provide our employees with immediate opportunities for growth. Day one begins with a view of what is possible at ibex including leadership development and job advancement and our commitment to enriching our employees’ lives. We enable our employees to craft a path for their future early in their tenure with ibex. |
2. | Employee first culture – Our employees are the lifeblood of our organization. From the tools they use every day to interact with our customers to the services we provide to improve their lives, we put our workforce first in all that we do. Our ability to recruit, engage, motivate and retain is evidenced in the top quadrant performance we deliver to our clients. We are committed to supporting a diverse and inclusive workforce through the entire organization. |
3. | Highly immersive engagement –Our culture can be seen and felt from the minute you enter one of our centers. From our modern, highly customized and branded sites to our unique celebrations for our frontline talent around the globe, our employee engagement is a key driver of the high agent retention we see across our delivery centers. |
In fiscal year 2021, we invested approximately $13 million in employee health, safety and wellness to help identify, slow and stop the spread of the COVID-19 in our facilities. Those investments included transportation for our employees to and from our facilities, high-grade disinfection of our CX delivery centers, appropriate social distancing measures, technology investment to contract trace and curb spread, and company-paid vaccinations. For example, we invested in vaccines purchased directly from the manufacturer for our employees in the Philippines; this has led to a 70% vaccination rate of our employee base in a region where only 14% of the general population are vaccinated. We believe this investment in our employees underscores our commitment to our workforce and builds loyalty to our clients and our personnel.
Our ongoing development and interest in our people and our culture is what fuels our growth. Our employees are extremely loyal to ibex and are proud to be part of ibex. The investment in our people does not end with our physical locations but transcends into the lives of our workforce.
Our people are at the center of our long-term success and growth-strategy, and we will continue to nurture, enhance, and expand our diversity and values-driven culture. Combining the passion, energy and talents of our global employee base and harnessing that into an industry leading company is at the heart of what we do. The result is performance at the highest levels for our clients that delivers an exceptional CX while accelerating growth and diversification for our business.
We utilize a differentiated value proposition to support our clients and drive value.
We place the customer at the core of our business strategy and deliver world-class CX capabilities, operational delivery excellence, efficiency, and reliability to enhance our clients’ success.
We have generated a high level of client satisfaction and loyalty that had fueled our new customer growth and client retention.
Our ability to build deep and trusted relationships with our clients is an integral part of our culture. Since the end of our FY2018, we have successfully retained all of our top 20 clients, which represented approximately 95% of our revenue that year. In FY21, our total customer retention represented over 99% revenue.
Additionally, we closely monitor customer satisfaction via net promoter score (“NPS”) which is tracked through our annual Client Satisfaction Survey. our 2019 Client Satisfaction Survey scored a NPS of 68 which indicates strong, mutually-beneficial relationships with clients built on the value they place in ibex services and solutions along with the level of service consistently being delivered.
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Our Strategic Approach
Our approach focuses on high growth clients that are experiencing increased demand for their products and services. In addition, we serve companies that are transforming their CX to a digital-first model. These target clients are looking for partners that can deliver an amazing experience to their customers, while enhancing their brand and customer loyalty, at scale.
The services we provide for these clients are digital and traditional omni-channel capabilities. Our digital services have significantly less agent attrition than traditional BPO programs. Agent attrition is a key cost and performance component where low attrition drives higher margins and better performance for ibex and our clients.
Often these digital services are provided in our high-margin Philippines and Nearshore regions. Our model of winning high-growth, digitally-focused clients has contributed to the growth of our highest margin services in our highest margin regions.
Our Competitive Strengths and Differentiators
As evidenced by the quality and quantity of our new customer wins, growth and market share with these clients and our track record of amazing customer retention with no customer losses, has clearly established ourselves as a CX leader in today’s digital economy. We do this through leveraging our key competitive strengths:
● | Differentiated as a Nimble, Disruptive Provider – Companies continue
to seek disruptive partners that are fast and flexible. We believe that we have a distinct organizational culture that embraces technological disruption and is characterized by innovation, speed and structural nimbleness. Our innovative and entrepreneurial culture is a key differentiator and gives us a competitive advantage in
delivering high-quality solutions to clients around the globe. |
● | Wave X Technology Solutions to drive performance and innovation – ibex Wave X is the hub of our technology development and innovation effort to drive value-added solutions for improved agent interactions, client CX, and overall performance. Wave X is a platform that spans the customer and agent lifecycle leveraging artificial intelligence into each stage of the customer lifecycle, from customer acquisition, to engagement, to surveys and analytics. Our proprietary technology, combined with our Wave Zero launch process enables us to accelerate “Speed to Green” for our clients and outperform our competition. |
● | Best Brand and employer in the markets we operate – Our goal is to be the best employer which helps create a virtuous cycle of the ability to attract and retain the best leadership and front-line agents. This in turn creates great performance that drives growth and expansion and expanded career opportunities for our personnel. The result is not only being recognized by the Great Places to Work award and Great Places to Work for Women awards, but also by scoring at industry leading scores for employee Net Promoter in markets like Jamaica, Nicaragua and Bohol, Philippines where we are now the largest BPO provider. |
● | Broad set of full lifecycle Digital Services –The services we provide for our clients include three key services – Digital & Omni-Channel Customer Experience (ibex Connect), Digital Marketing and E-Commerce (ibex Digital) and Digital CX surveys and analytics (ibex CX). This contrasts to many of our traditional competitors that are focused solely on contact center services only. |
● | World-Class Global Delivery with significant growth in Nearshore & Offshore regions – Our global delivery model is built on onshore, nearshore and offshore delivery centers, and includes our ability to also support work-at-home capabilities. We seek to operate state-of-the-art ‘highly-branded’ sites in labor markets that are underpenetrated in order to maintain our competitive advantage, retain our position in those labor markets as an employer of choice and deliver a highly scalable and cost-effective solution to our clients. |
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Our CX delivery centers enable us to create a differentiated connection to our clients’ brands and their customers. In addition, with a broad growing network of 33 CX delivery centers spread across multiple geographies, we provide much needed geographic diversity for our clients. In particular, significant investments made in nearshore sites, such as Jamaica and Nicaragua, enable us to offer untapped talent pools for high-quality service, proximity to home operations, competitive price points, and an existing brand affinity. From June 2019 to December 2021, we expect to have experienced 125% growth in nearshore/offshore capacity while shrinking our domestic capacity by more than 20%. As of October 1, 2021, 74% of our capacity reside in our high growth offshore and nearshore markets.
● | Great Operational performance that leads to high Client Satisfaction and Retention – Our ability to build deep and trusted relationships with our clients is core to who we are. Since the end of our FY2018, we have successfully retained all of our top 20 clients, which represented approximately 95% of our revenue in FY18. In FY21, our total customer retention represented over 99% revenue retention. Additionally, we monitor customer satisfaction in the form of a NPS which is tracked through our ibex annual Client Satisfaction Survey. Based on ibex’s 2019 Client Satisfaction Survey, we scored a NPS of 68 which indicates strong, mutually beneficial relationships with our clients built on the value clients place in our services and solutions and level of service we consistently deliver. |
Our Growth Strategy
Our goal is to grow our position as a key strategic partner to leading digital-first clients that require outsourced customer engagement solutions, especially as they look to deliver amazing customer
experiences to digitally native customers.
Since 2016 we have transformed our business from a traditional BPO providing commoditized call center support to a leading tech-led provider and partner of choice for the digital economy. Revenues from new clients won since FY2016 are approximately $230 million and have increased at a 84% CAGR and an increase of 40% from FY20 to FY21. Most of this growth is delivered out of our highly profitable nearshore (Jamaica and Nicaragua) and Philippine's regions. Today these regions represent 74% of our total seats.
Our growth model is designed to deploy a “land and expand” approach where we win a client, outperform and subsequently enhance the partnership scope with these clients. The breadth of our capabilities, our
ability to deliver a superior experience to our clients and our global delivery capabilities have allowed us to successfully land new clients and then expand our wallet share with them over time.
Our Wave Zero launch model has become a competitive advantage for ibex in our land and expand approach. The result is a faster path to delivering results in the early stages of production resulting in a great position to expand quickly. This is evidenced by the revenues in year two of our client relationships increasing 2.5x to 3.5x of year one revenues, with continued strong growth into year three.
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The following table illustrates the success we have had with our new customer engine and our land and expand strategy since FY16, as well as the acceleration of our new customer sales engine. The result for ibex is a business that has achieved 16 straight quarters of growth when measured versus prior year quarter:
Moving forward, our strategy for continued growth is based on the following key components:
● | Continue Winning Digital-First Blue Chip Clients – We have been able to win marquee blue-chip brands that are looking to transform their customer engagement strategy through a more innovative and outcome-oriented focus. For these customers, our value proposition is primarily focused on acting as a partner to drive digital transformation in their existing operations. The imperative of digital engagement with a new type of consumer is even more urgent as these companies increasingly face-off against emerging, new economy companies. We have increasingly gained share in these relationships, often displacing existing incumbent providers. |
● | Continue Winning the Leaders of the New Economy – Our New Economy initiative combines our customer engagement, customer acquisition and CX capabilities into an integrated solution set that is focused on the needs of high-growth emerging technology markets. Our success in our New Economy vertical can be traced to its inception in 2016, when we began servicing a new client in the emerging technology space. We launched our New Economy initiative to help similar clients attain and support their high-growth objectives. New Economy customers are serviced out of our Philippines and nearshore regions, often with more digital support versus traditional voice support, producing generally higher margins. |
● | Invest into and Grow our Strategic FinTech and HealthTech Verticals –We have identified the FinTech and HealthTech industries as high-growth verticals with rapidly expanding digital CX needs. Within our FinTech practice, we intend to build on recent wins we have had with leading digital trading apps and crypto currency wallets. In HealthTech, we see significant opportunity to provide enhanced patient experience, revenue cycle management as well as medical coding and billing services. |
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● | Expand Service & Lines of Business with Current Clients – The breadth of our solutions over the full customer lifecycle creates the ability to cross-sell each solution throughout our client base. Our client base has many large, global brands that have multiple lines of business across multiple geographies. Our typical model is to launch in one center with one service such as customer engagement. Our goal is then to “expand” with additional services or new geographies where we operate for our clients. We believe that the success of our initial launches has enabled our client teams to broaden our scope of engagement with these clients to include additional solutions within our suite of offerings. |
● | Pursue strategic acquisitions – Our acquisition strategy targets situations in which it is optimal to acquire versus build. It will primarily be focused on adding additional omni-channel capabilities, providing access to new geographies and acquiring technologies that further differentiate our solutions. |
By offering technology-enabled customer interactions solutions and focusing on our strategies for growth, we believe we are well positioned to compete effectively in the customer engagement marketplace, continue to increase market share and capitalize on market growth.
Our Service Offerings
Whether in mature, high-growth or emerging industries, we provide clients with a compelling value proposition that combines a full spectrum of customer lifecycle solutions with a world-class global operations delivery model operating off of innovative technology.
The customer experience lifecycle, from acquisition to retention has become more challenging, complex and competitive for companies to manage, yet now more than ever before, CX is a key differentiator for so many companies.
Digitally transforming companies partner with ibex to optimize every interaction they have with their customers, ensuring a superior customer experience.
We have designed a differentiated suite of digital and operational solutions that seamlessly manages interactions throughout all phases of the customer lifecycle, across multiple channels, customized to a client’s specific needs.
Our technology solutions and outsourcing services help globally recognized companies enhance their brands, drive customer loyalty, and identify new revenue streams by customizing services that maximize touchpoints across the entire customer journey.
We provide our clients with differentiated solutions that combine a customer-obsessed employee culture, an industry-leading global delivery model, and innovative technology. The investments we have made have placed us in a strong competitive position with substantial first-mover advantages.
Our vertical industry expertise in retail, e-commerce, emerging technology, HealthTech, FinTech and other high-growth areas allows us to adapt our services and solutions for clients, further embedding us into their customer engagement lifecycle while delivering impactful business results.
Our services cover three areas: Digital & Omni-Channel Customer Experience (ibex Connect), Digital Marketing and E-Commerce (ibex Digital) and Digital CX surveys and analytics (ibex CX):
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ibex Connect
Our Connect business lies at the core of our offerings and generates the majority of the company’s revenue. This business unit delivers differentiated customer service (assisting our clients’ customers with information about our clients’ and their products or services), technical support (providing specialized teams to provide information, assistance and technical guidance to our clients’ customers on a specific product or service), revenue generation (upselling and cross selling) and other value-added outsourced back office services (finance and accounting, marketing support, sales operations, and human resources administration) to our clients. We deploy these capabilities through a true omni-channel CX model, which integrates voice, email, chat, SMS, social media and other communication applications.
ibex Digital
Our ibex Digital suite of solutions works with consumer-facing businesses to help them build, grow and scale technology-driven customer acquisition solutions, while helping drive digital transformation. We offer digital marketing, e-commerce technology, and platform solutions for some of the largest and fastest growing brands, helping them build new customer acquisition channels, increase acquired customers, and often do both at a reduced cost.
ibex CX
Our CX business measures, monitors and manages our clients’ wholistic customer experiences. By offering a 360-degree CX approach, our clients harness the power of the data and customer feedback to differentiate themselves within today’s “customer expectation economy. We enable our clients to improve retention of their customers, identify and manage service issues in real time, predict future behavior and outcomes, derive impact analysis scenarios and assign “action plans” throughout the enterprise.
Our Technology
The foundation for ibex service offerings is our WaveX technology platform, a differentiating set of proprietary purpose-built solutions across the customer and agent lifecycle that drive performance, speed to green and customer satisfaction.
Our technology helps clients drive insights and manage interactions across their entire customer journey.
Over the past five years, we have invested significant resources into building and deploying proprietary technology, focusing on next-generation software deployed across the full customer lifecycle journey, driving revenue growth, productivity improvements, experience enhancement and competitive differentiation.
Our Flexible Operating Delivery Model
Companies seeking CX partners base their decisions in large part on the ability to provide a flexible, turnkey delivery model that offers a mix of onshore, nearshore, offshore and remote working capabilities. In the face of recent global events, companies need providers with the ability to shift their delivery rapidly between various location models.
Our global delivery model operates onshore, nearshore and offshore CX delivery centers, coupled with the ability to support work-at-home capabilities.
We operate state-of-the-art CX delivery centers in labor markets that are underpenetrated. This gives us a competitive advantage, retains our position in those labor markets as an employer of choice and delivers a highly scalable and cost-effective solution to our clients.
Our CX delivery centers enable us to create an environment where our customer service employees are highly immersed in our clients’ brands, further promoting our customer-obsessed culture.
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With a broad and growing global network of 33 CX delivery centers, we provide geographic diversity for our clients. Our significant investments in nearshore sites such as Jamaica and Nicaragua enable us to offer untapped talent pools capable of delivering superior CX at competitive price points, and in many cases, an existing brand affinity.
We have become the largest BPO employer in Jamaica and Nicaragua over the last five years with over 6,000 and 2,500 employees, respectively. In addition, we’ve become the largest provider and first mover in Bohol, Philippines, where we have over 1,800 employees. In fact, we are rated the number one digital CX outsourcer in each of those countries. We are also the largest BPO employer in Pakistan, which is a truly disruptive market for the industry.
We operate in the following geographies for our service offerings:
Customer Engagement
As of October 1, we operate 33 CX delivery centers located in the United States, the Philippines, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Senegal and the United Kingdom. As of June 30, 2021, we have more than 18,000 agents across these centers. We will be expanding our nearshore footprint in early FY22 as we launch in Honduras (Tegucigalpa).
Customer Acquisition
We operate three acquisition-focused Centers of Excellence, one in Jamaica and two in Pakistan, which are focused on customer acquisition on behalf of our clients. As of June 30, 2021, the number of agents dedicated to customer acquisition was more than 500.
Customer Experience Technology Solutions
We deliver our CX technology solutions to our clients primarily through a cloud-based delivery model. Our Analytics solution is an add-on solution, which includes technology such as omni-channel speech analytics utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) along with business analysts who provide various insights.
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Our footprint is a strategic advantage, blending our site strategies for our clients between the Philippines, nearshore markets (Jamaica and Nicaragua), and in a disruptive market like Pakistan.
This provides our clients with a balance of quality, cost and BCP (Business Continuity Plan) having their business placed with us across multiple regions. Of our largest 25 clients, we service 20 across multiple regions creating great market diversification and BCP.
We also believe that providing services for our clients across multiple regions is a proxy for a partner oriented trusted relationship and is consistent with our “land and expand” client strategy.
Our deep client relationship and operation performance is also evidence of the fact that we have not lost a top 20 client since 2018 – a bar that is extremely difficult to attain, and we believe is unique to ibex. In fact, in our most recent client NPS survey, we attained a near industry gold standard of 68 NPS rating by our client base.
Key Market Opportunities
The estimated total current addressable market for ibex is well over $100 billion, and is comprised of the following areas of opportunity:
● | Customer Engagement - The largest portion of ibex’s addressable market is the customer care segment within the BPO industry, which makes up the largest portion of the company’s revenue. International Data Corporation (“IDC”), a leading information technology research firm, estimates that the worldwide business process outsourcing services revenue in 2020 was $203.3 billion and expected to grow to $231 billion in 2024. Within this market, the customer care segment is the largest horizontal market, with approximately $77 billion of revenues in 2020 and expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.6% to $88.6 billion in revenues by 2024. Within the United States, customer care BPO spend accounted for $45 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to $51.6 billion by 2024. |
● | Customer Acquisition - ibex Digital is enabled primarily by digital marketing which is one of the fastest growing segments of the media advertising industry. According to eMarketer, a leading market research company, digital marketing will make up 43% of all advertising spending in 2020. A significant portion of this fast-growing market consists of outsourced customer acquisition specialists, who have primarily adopted a pay-for-performance business model in which advertisers only compensate marketers once a target consumer has taken a particular action, such as filling out an information form or completing a purchase of a product or service. E-marketer estimated that $28 billion would be spent in 2020 on paid search in North America, ibex’s primary digital marketing channel, and is expected grow at a 10% CAGR from 2020 to 2023. The market is projected to continue to grow in the near term and is rapidly evolving due to increased expectations for BPO providers to innovate and constantly improve service quality. |
● | CX Experience Management and Analytics - With unprecedented access to technology, data and choices, consumers have elevated expectations about being heard, as well as how companies act and respond in real time. As consumers gravitate toward digital channels (websites, mobile and social media), enterprises are seeking more technologically advanced solutions to collect data in real time and harness insights yielded by advanced analytics performed on those data to provide customized customer experiences. Markets and Markets, a leading B2B market research firm, estimates that the global customer experience management market will grow at a 11.8% CAGR, from $8.5 billion in 2020 to $14.9 billion in 2025, with North America representing approximately $3.0 billion of market share in 2020. Similarly, Market Research Future estimates that the global market for customer experience analytics will increase to $12 billion by 2023. |
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Key Market Trends
Several trends are driving growth and transformation in the outsourced customer interactions market. Historically, the industry was premised on labor arbitrage and cost. Offshoring of work to markets like India and the Philippines was driven primarily by the cost advantages those markets provided.
The outsourced industry is undergoing a paradigm shift with blue chip clients pivoting toward technology-enabled marketplaces supporting an increasingly digitally native consumer base. This represents a key area for ibex to continue to capture market share.
Companies are reacting to this shifting landscape with a relentless focus on CX. They view their customer contact center providers as essential partners and an extension of their brand rather than a cost center to manage customer interaction. As a result, they are often moving away from their incumbent legacy providers looking for differentiation and simply better customer support. They are not just looking for labor to manage contacts, but rather they are looking for great customer experiences.
In addition to clients in mature industries, emerging industries in the technology and consumer services sectors are changing the mix of solutions, channels and delivery locations. We believe that participants that offer a flexible, technology-oriented, and integrated solution will be best positioned to address the following key industry trends:
● | A Dramatic Prioritization of CX – As brands recognize that digital feedback mechanisms, such as social media, can rapidly impact brand perception in a positive or negative manner, the importance of delivering an exceptional customer experience has become a top priority for companies. |
● | Consumer Centricity & Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) – Customer expectations and behaviors are changing dramatically. Enabled by immediate feedback channels, consumers expect that enterprises will meet their needs and preferences instantaneously in return for brand loyalty and greater share of customer spend. Accordingly, enterprises and brands are more focused on understanding their consumers’ needs and developing business models that hinge on maximizing customer lifetime value. In turn, they are demanding outsourced customer engagement partners that can deliver customer-centric solutions in an omni-channel manner that maximizes customer retention. |
● | Outsourcing Across the Operational Value Chain – Enterprises are more frequently relying on outsourced providers to address their needs across the entire customer lifecycle. Many companies, especially in the HealthTech, FinTech and utilities space, are beginning to increasingly rely on the expertise of external providers to deliver cost savings, ensure compliance, drive performance enhancements, and offer technology suites that serve to improve overall CX while allowing the brand to focus on their core products and competencies. Mature companies seek to digitally transform their current operations to meet the demands of the digital economy and diversify their capabilities. Companies in emerging sectors outsource due to their limited experience and/or resources to manage increasing volumes of customer interactions, and in order to drive new customer demand, scale operations, optimize costs, protect their brand investment, and accelerate profitability. |
● | Rise of Omni-Channel to Drive Consumer Centricity − Customer expectations and behaviors are changing dramatically with the evolution of technology such as smart phones, tablets and social media. This has accelerated the speed of consumer interaction with brands. Consumers expect the brands to meet their needs and preferences instantaneously in return for brand loyalty and a greater share of customer spend. To address this trend, brands are focused on providing a seamless experience via integration of all contact channels (chat, email, SMS, voice, etc.) to deliver customer-centric solutions in an omni-channel manner that maximize customer lifetime value. |
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● | Seeking Integrated End-to-End Partners – We believe clients are increasingly looking to utilize outsourcing partners who can provide unified solutions for a variety of touchpoints along the customer interaction value chain, from digital marketing to customer sales and support to CX and surveys. Providers with integrated offerings will command a larger share of wallet from their clients, drive a great degree of insight and performance; this ultimately drives a longer term, mutually beneficial partnership. |
● | Bestshore Flexible Delivery Model – Clients are increasingly choosing providers based on their ability to provide a flexible, turnkey delivery model that can offer a mix of onshore, nearshore, offshore, and remote working capabilities. However, in today’s industry, clients are looking for the best provider in the market that they are considering, as opposed to one provider across all geographies. With recent global events, clients have indicated a heightened importance on the ability of providers to shift their delivery rapidly between various location models. |
● | Data Protection & Security − With the rise of the digital economy has come a rise in both the concern toward, and vulnerability of, consumer data. Both mature and new economy brands are placing a higher degree of focus on the technology that underpins the data security and fraud systems deployed by their partners; having an advanced and secure system architecture along with data center redundancy and advanced security technologies are becoming increasingly important, understanding that any security breach can result in a devastating impact to a client’s brand and a consumer’s loyalty. |
● | Data and Analytics − Enterprises are increasingly demanding that their providers of customer interaction solutions integrate data analysis and insight into their core service offerings, to drive continuous performance and superior outcomes. These business intelligence tools can yield actionable insights across every customer touchpoint enabling clients to address customer issues in real time. We expect that investments in automation, digitization and machine learning will become key drivers in the industry as clients seek to adopt more technology-rich ways of servicing their customers. |
● | Artificial Intelligence to Enhance Service Delivery − With the increasing applicability of AI in enhancing business processes, the customer care industry is starting to integrate AI into its range of solutions. |
● | Integrated Technology Solutions for Mature Sectors – Fortune 500 companies that historically utilized traditional live-agent, voice-based services are now integrating new technology-enabled solutions that include multi-channel delivery, self-serve options and automation. Such solutions allow them to achieve greater operational flexibility and innovate their service offerings. |
● | Solutions Catered to High-Growth Sectors – The challenges that new economy “disruptors” consist of managing high growth within their customer base, while simultaneously maintaining a high-quality customer experience. In contrast to mature business models, new economy companies have generally not focused on developing large-scale insourced customer operations; therefore, they rely on external partners that can deliver customer service, engagement and support while maintaining the quality of their brands. Most of these companies source their customer interaction needs from lower-cost locations outside their home markets. |
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Company Recognition
The Company has received the following awards since 2018:
● | 2020 Frost & Sullivan Nearshore Company of the year for Caribbean and Central America |
● | 2019 Nexus Illuminate Nearshore Company of the Year by Nearshore America’s |
● | 2020 Best Place to Work for Nicaragua |
● | 2020 Best Place Work in Caribbean and Central America 2020 |
● | 2021 Best Places for Women to Work in Caribbean and Central America 2021 |
● | 2018 Customer Value Leadership Award for North America by Frost and Sullivan |
● | 2019 Growth Excellence Award by Frost and Sullivan |
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Our Clients
As of June 30, 2021, we had over 125 clients. Our clients fit primarily within two categories. The first category is made up of mostly Fortune 500 brands, across a broad range of industries, such as telecommunications, cable, financial services, and healthcare, which have large customer bases and rely on outsourced providers to maximize customer retention and improve customer expansion. We refer to these clients as “blue chip” companies. Increasingly, clients in this category look to us as a nimble provider offering differentiated services as they face challenges in the wake of digital disruption. We apply our execution expertise and end-to-end CLX technology suite to enable these clients to adapt in a changing environment that requires a different type of customer experience for digital-native consumers. The second category of clients we serve are digitally-driven “disruptors.” We refer to these clients as the “New Economy” companies. They tend to be faster-growing brands in high-growth industry verticals, such as (but not limited to) technology, e-commerce and consumer services. Our New Economy business is designed to meet these needs for new economy verticals and high-growth requirements, with a focus on launch, speed-to-performance and scale. While many of these New Economy clients are smaller, fast growing companies, there are several Fortune 500 companies within that group, such as Amazon and one of the leading ride-sharing companies in the United States. The success of our New Economy initiative with high-growth technology, e-commerce and consumer services clients is a key driver in the increase of our revenue from non-voice channels, and, as a result, has a positive effect on our profitability. While most other client verticals operate under economics typical of the outsourced customer care industry, the success of our New Economy business vertical is a result of differentiating factors such as its growth trajectory, its contribution to profitability and the greater propensity for these clients to leverage digital forms of service delivery. During the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, we derived 28.8%, 27.4%, and 22.0% of our consolidated revenue, respectively, from our New Economy clients.
Our contracts with clients generally take the form of a master services agreement, which is a framework agreement that is then supplemented by one or more statements of work. Our master services agreements specify the general terms applicable to the services we provide. Our statements of work specify the specific services to be provided and associated performance metrics and pricing.
Our top three “legacy” clients (i.e., our top three clients as of the end of fiscal year 2020 and 2019) accounted for 34.2%, 43.7%, and 50.6% of our revenues for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. During fiscal year 2021, our third largest client as of June 30, 2020 was replaced with our fourth largest client. During the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020 and 2019, our top three clients as of June 30, 2021 represented 35.0%, 43.7%, and 50.6% of our consolidated revenue, respectively. We are focused on building deep client relationships at multiple levels within their businesses. Coupled with our ability to consistently perform at or above expectations, this has enabled us to expand the number of high value CLX solutions we provide for our clients. This approach, over time, has led to higher client retention rates.
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Client Contracts
On January 1, 2017, Ibex Global Solutions, Inc. f/k/a TRG Customer Solutions, Inc. (“TRGCS”) entered into a services agreement with our top client measured by revenue as of June 30, 2020, to provide certain call center services pursuant to statements of work issued under such services agreement. There are two statements of work existing under the services agreement. The first statement of work, dated as of January 1, 2017, has TRGCS provide to the client a number of services, including, but not limited to, customer technical support. The first statement of work was extended on May 1, 2019 and expired by its terms on April 30, 2021. TRGCS currently continues to provide services to the client as governed by the services agreement while the client and TRGCS finalize a new statement of work. The second statement of work, dated as of January 1, 2017, has TRGCS provide to the client a number of services, including, but not limited to, general customer support and sales. This second statement of work was extended on October 1, 2018 and expired by its terms on June 30, 2021. TRGCS currently continues to provide services to the client as governed by the services agreement while the client and TRGCS finalize a new statement of work. The services agreement and any statements of work issued under the service agreement may be terminated, in whole or in part, with or without cause, by the client with at least 90 days prior written notice to TRGCS. Either party may terminate the services agreement and/or any statements of work issued under the service agreement upon an event of default. Both parties have agreed to indemnify the other party for certain losses or liabilities incurred in connection with the performance of services by TRGCS.
On December 10, 2013, TelSatOnline, LLC f/k/a TelSatOnline, Inc. (“TSO”) entered into a marketing agent agreement with this client, pursuant to which we provide marketing and sales services, including, but not limited to, computer, security and technical support services. The term of this agreement automatically renews for successive one-year terms unless terminated by either party. The marketing agent agreement may be terminated by either party without cause upon 30 days written notice. In addition, the client may terminate the marketing agent agreement upon a breach or default by TSO after 30 days’ prior written notice or immediately upon the occurrence of certain events set forth in the marketing agent agreement. The marketing agent agreement contains mutual indemnification provisions.
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On August 12, 2014, TRGCS entered into a master service agreement with our second largest client measured by revenue as of June 30, 2020, to provide services pursuant to work orders issued under such master service agreement. This agreement replaced a prior agreement that was executed between the parties on December 4, 2009, as amended from time-to-time. On April 24, 2020, TRGCS executed a supplemental order with our second largest client, which is designed to provide consistency amongst multiple work orders and lines of business. The term of the supplemental order was made effective as of January 1, 2020 and will continue through December 31, 2022.There are two work orders existing under the master service agreements, and each are expressly subject to the new supplemental order. The first work order, originally dated as of April 1, 2016, was renewed and replaced with a new work order, effective as of January 1, 2020 and will continue through December 31, 2022, unless cancelled or terminated earlier pursuant to its terms. Under this work order, TRGCS provides our second largest client a number of services, including, but not limited to, inbound customer care, customer sales and retention, customer support, and third-party verification. This first work order was amended effective September 1, 2020 to add additional services and amend other terms. The second work order, originally dated as of February 1, 2017, was renewed and replaced with a new work order, effective as of July 1, 2020 and will continue through June 30, 2023, unless cancelled or terminated earlier pursuant to its terms. Under this second work order, TRGCS provides our second largest client a number of services, including, but not limited to, customer technical support and sales. The second work order was amended effective September 1, 2020 to add additional services and amend other terms, including updated pricing. A third work order was entered into pursuant to the January 1, 2020 supplemental order, effective September 1, 2020 and will continue through December 31, 2022. Under this third work order, TRGCS provides our client with services related to broadband and video. Our second largest client may terminate any or all work orders at any time, for convenience and without cause, upon 70 days written notice. Any or all work orders may also be terminated by either party upon a breach of the provisions of the master service agreements or any work orders issued under the master service agreements if such breach is not cured during a 10-day period, or if such breach is not curable or is a violation of certain laws, immediately upon notice of such breach. TRGCS has also agreed to indemnify our second largest client for certain losses or liabilities incurred in connection with the performance of the services by TRGCS.
On December 14, 2016, TSO entered into a service agreement with our second largest client to provide online sales and marketing services. This agreement continued through December 13, 2018 and the parties are currently continuing to operate under it notwithstanding its expiration, as confirmed by the client in writing. Either party may terminate this agreement at any time, without cause upon 30 days prior written notice, our second largest client may terminate the agreement immediately with respect to a particular market upon written notice if the client is no longer authorized to provide services in such particular market. Either party may terminate the agreement immediately (or after the failure to cure within 30-days to the extent a cure period is applicable) upon the occurrence of certain events specified in the agreement. TSO has also agreed to indemnify the client for certain losses or liabilities incurred by in connection with the performance of services by TSO. Pursuant to this agreement, TSO is paid on a commission basis per each sale. The amount of the commission for a sale depends on the product sold, and in some cases, the speed of the sale.
On May 22, 2017, TSO entered into a customer fulfillment referral agreement with a subsidiary of our second largest client, pursuant to which we serve as a commissioned customer referral contractor to market, advertise and promote the client’s systems, services and programming. This agreement automatically renews for an unlimited number of successive one-year terms unless earlier terminated by either party. Either party may terminate the agreement, immediately upon the occurrence of certain events. Automatic termination is also provided for with respect to bankruptcy or cessation of either party’s business. The parties have agreed to indemnify each other for certain losses or liabilities incurred in connection with the agreement. We are paid a commission for each qualifying subscriber referred the client. If a subscriber disconnects, cancels, terminates or fails to pay the client at any time within the first year after their initial subscription, the client is entitled to a discounted chargeback of that subscriber’s commission depending on the timing of such termination of service. Additionally, the client pays us continuing service fees for our ongoing marketing, promotion and advertising of the client’s services, as well as continuing service to referred customers. The amount of such continuing service fees depend on the level of our performance in a calendar quarter.
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On July 1, 2017, Digital Globe Services, LLC (f/k/a Digital Globe Services, Inc.) (“DGS”) entered into a customer referral agreement with a third-party organization, pursuant to which such organization will act as a commissioned customer referral contractor to market, advertise and promote our second largest client’s systems, services and programming for an initial 3-year term, and on August 1, 2019, the parties amended the agreement, to extend the initial term through July 31, 2022. Pursuant to this agreement, the organization will refer potential customers to us which we will then refer to our client. We will pay a commission for the referral of each qualifying subscriber, and we are in turn paid a commission for the referral of each qualifying subscriber by our second largest client in accordance with the agreement. After the expiration of the initial term, this agreement automatically renews for an unlimited number of successive one-year terms unless earlier terminated by either party. Either party may elect to cancel the agreement for any reason, effective upon the expiration of the then-current term, by delivering written notice to the other party at least 60 days prior to such expiration. Either party may terminate the agreement with written notice and opportunity to cure and/or immediately upon the occurrence of certain events. DGS and the third-party organization have agreed to indemnify each other for certain losses or liabilities incurred in connection with the agreement.
Sales and Marketing
Our sales and marketing teams work closely together to drive awareness and adoption of our CLX platform, accelerate customer acquisition and expand the relationship with our existing customers. We focus on developing long-term relationships with large strategic clients that have needs across the entire CLX lifecycle and employ a “land and expand” strategy to grow these relationships. Under this strategy, we seek to build the client’s trust through flawless execution on the initial assignment (which is typically for a single solution or geography) and then expand the scope of our engagement with the client into multiple geographies and business lines, which allows us to offer additional CLX solutions. In this manner, the “land and expand” strategy provides opportunities for us to substantially increase our revenues within our existing client base over time.
Our sales and marketing activities are focused on our key market verticals: telecommunications and cable, technology, retail, emerging and high-growth technology, healthcare, financial services and utilities. We have market heads of our key verticals, including a market head over our New Economy business vertical. We believe our vertical market focus allows us to provide deep domain expertise and positions us as the best partner to help solve our clients’ unique needs. An essential part of our sales strategy is to focus on ways we can innovate on behalf of our clients, which includes digitization strategies and usage of data, technology, analytics and insights. We are well positioned with the top brands in each of the industry verticals in which we operate and can leverage domain knowledge and strong client references to generate business with other companies in the same industry vertical.
New Logos
Our new logo organization is made up of teams focused on our key market verticals. Each team is focused solely on penetrating and closing business with the top 40 clients in each vertical. In addition, they will often partner with our client services executives who have an intimate understanding of the client’s business and needs, to actively identify and target additional cross-sell opportunities across the entire CLX lifecycle.
New Economy
The New Economy team is focused on penetrating a broader reach of unicorn and potential unicorn clients in the emerging technology and consumer services sector. Through our New Economy offering, we combine Customer Engagement, Customer Acquisition and Customer Experience into an integrated solution set that is focused on the high-growth technology, e-commerce and consumer services markets for new economy clients.
The sales process for a new client can be short or lengthy depending on the client. Generally, the sales process for our New Economy target clients is 30-60 days, while selling to larger blue-chip clients can range as long as 18 months.
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Client Services Organization
Our client services organization is dedicated to maintaining and expanding our relationships with our existing clients and is made up of teams that are organized either around a single large client or around groups of clients that collectively provide scale to warrant the investment of client services overhead. A majority of the senior leadership of the client services organization is located in the United States and is supported by local team members located closer to the actual service delivery, sometimes in other countries / regions. The members of our client services organization typically have deep operational experience as well as strong relationship-building and selling skills. Often our client services team for an account has a team member located close to the client’s premises in the United States as well as a member that is located close to where the delivery takes place, which is now increasingly in offshore and nearshore locations. Most of the new opportunities created within the embedded base of existing clients are led by the senior leadership of the client services organization and follow the same general sales process as the new logo organization.
As part of our highly engaged, or “leaned in” corporate culture, our client relationships are set up at multiple levels and layers, all the way from our chief executive officer through the business heads of our organization. The multi-layered nature of these relationships allows us to develop even stronger client engagements.
Marketing Efforts
Our marketing efforts are focused on generating awareness of our offerings, establishing and promoting our brand, reaching and serving the CLX needs of key decision makers in our target verticals, and cultivating a community of successful and vocal customers. We focus our marketing effort on demonstrating to our prospects our thought leadership in the CLX market, addressing the challenges facing enterprises across the full CLX lifecycle, and engaging business leaders who are seeking to leverage data, technology, analytics, and insights to drive competitive differentiation. We take a targeted approach and work with enterprises across our target verticals: telecommunications, technology, cable / broadband, high-growth technology, healthcare and financial services. We engage with key decision makers outside of RFP cycles in the following key offices: Chief Digital Officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Experience Officer, Chief Customer Officer and the Chief Marketing Officer.
We also use various social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook to promote our brand externally to target clients and internally to our employees and prospective employees, with the latter being a key component of our success in achieving award winning agent engagement.
Competition
The BPO markets in which we compete are highly fragmented with the largest 10 providers for call center and BPO services representing approximately 30% of the total market. We believe this creates significant opportunity for a broad and differentiated provider like us. Although we do not believe any single competitor currently offers a directly comparable end-to-end CLX solution, we believe our integrated platform faces competition from a variety of companies which operate in distinct segments of the customer lifecycle journey. Based on our industry knowledge, traditional BPO companies are seeking to respond to these dynamics by taking steps to evolve into fully-fledged end-to-end customer lifecycle experience platforms, including through acquisitions. However, such initiatives have been limited due to the scarcity of actionable at-scale assets.
We also face competition from in-house customer service departments, which seek to develop, deploy and service applications that offer functionality similar to our solutions. These in-house customer service departments continue to constitute the largest segment of customer lifecycle management expenditures.
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We believe that the most significant competitive factor in the sale of outsourced customer engagement services is the ability of providers to act as partners to and extensions of clients’ brands, in an effort to deliver improved customers experience and increased overall customer LTV. Other important factors include maintaining high and consistent levels of service quality, tailored value-added service offerings, supported by advanced technological capabilities, industry and domain expertise, an understanding of the digital marketplace and modern consumer, sufficient diversified global delivery coverage, reliability, scalability, security and competitive pricing.
Intellectual Property
The success of our business depends, in part, on our proprietary technology and intellectual property. We rely on a combination of intellectual property laws and contractual arrangements to protect our intellectual property.
We have registered or are registering various trademarks and service marks in the U.S. and/or other countries, including: Clearview (U.S. Reg. No. 5230123), IBEX Global (U.S. Reg. Nos. 4596647, 4424863, and 4588731), and IBEX (U.S. Reg. No. 6062663). The duration of trademark and service mark registrations varies from country to country but may generally be renewed indefinitely as long as the marks are in use and their registrations are properly maintained. We also have common law rights to certain trademarks and service marks.
We also have and maintain certain trade secrets arising out of the authorship or creation of proprietary computer programs, systems and business practices. Confidentiality is maintained primarily through contractual clauses, and in the case of computer programs, system access controls, tracking and authorization processes.
Regulation
We are subject to a number of U.S. federal and state and foreign laws and regulations that involve matters central to our business. These laws and regulations may involve privacy, data protection, intellectual property, competition, consumer protection, export taxation and other subjects. Many of the laws and regulations to which we are subject are still evolving and being tested in courts and could be interpreted in ways that could harm our business. In addition, the terms of our service contracts typically require that we comply with applicable laws and regulations. In some of our service contracts, we are contractually required to comply even if such laws and regulations apply to our clients, but not to us, and sometimes our clients require us to take specific steps intended to make it easier for our clients to comply with requirements that are applicable to them. If we fail to comply with any applicable laws and regulations, we may be restricted in our ability to provide services and may also be the subject of civil or criminal actions involving penalties, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our operations. Our clients generally have the right to terminate our contracts for cause in the event of regulatory failures, subject to notice periods. See Item 3D. “Risk Factors” for more information.
Certain Bermuda Law Considerations
As a Bermuda company, we are also subject to regulation in Bermuda. Among other things, we must comply with the provisions of the Companies Act regulating the declaration and payment of dividends and the making of distributions from contributed surplus.
We are classified as a non-resident of Bermuda for exchange control purposes by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, (“BMA”). Pursuant to our non-resident status, we may engage in transactions in currencies other than Bermuda dollars. There are no restrictions on our ability to transfer funds in and out of Bermuda or to pay dividends to United States residents that are holders of our common shares.
Under Bermuda law, “exempted” companies are companies formed for the purpose of conducting business outside Bermuda. As an exempted company, we may not, without a license granted by the Minister of Economic Development, participate in certain business transactions, including transactions involving Bermuda landholding rights and the carrying on of business of any kind, for which we are not licensed in Bermuda.
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On December 31, 2018, the Bermuda government enacted the Substance Act, with effect from July 1, 2019 for existing Bermuda entities, requiring certain entities in Bermuda engaged in “relevant activities” to maintain a substantial economic presence in Bermuda and to satisfy economic substance requirements. The list of “relevant activities” includes holding entities, and the legislation requires Bermuda companies engaging in a “relevant activity” to be locally managed and directed, to carry on core income generating activities in Bermuda, to maintain adequate physical presence in Bermuda, and to have an adequate level of local full time qualified employees and incur adequate operating expenditure in Bermuda. Under the Substance Act, any entity that must satisfy economic substance requirements but fails to do so could face automatic disclosure to competent authorities in the European Union of the information filed by the entity with the Bermuda Registrar of Companies in connection with the economic substance requirements and may also face financial penalties, restriction or regulation of its business activities or may be struck as a registered entity in Bermuda. The guidance as to how Bermuda authorities will interpret and enforce the Substance Act is pending, and we therefore cannot predict the potential impact of compliance or noncompliance on our results of operations and financial condition.
See Item 3D. “Risk Factors - Risks Related to Being Incorporated in Bermuda” for more information.
C. Organization Structure
Please refer to Exhibit 8.1 for a complete list of our subsidiaries and their ownership.
D. Property, plant and equipment
Facilities and Delivery
As of June 30, 2021, we operated 31 delivery centers in the following countries:
|
|
Number of |
|
Number of |
Country |
|
centers |
|
workstations |
United States |
|
6 |
|
2,153 |
Philippines |
|
9 |
|
7,335 |
Pakistan |
|
7 |
|
2,300 |
Jamaica |
|
5 |
|
4,399 |
Nicaragua |
|
2 |
|
1,510 |
Senegal |
|
1 |
|
204 |
United Kingdom |
|
1 |
|
15 |
Total |
|
31 |
|
17,916 |
Leases for our delivery and data centers have a range of expiration dates from December, 2021 to September, 2028, and typically include a renewal option for an additional term.
Our executive management offices are located in Washington, D.C., which consist of approximately 2,000 square feet of office space subleased from TRGI, the term of which is set to expire on June 30, 2025. This facility currently serves as the headquarters for senior management and the financial, information technology and administrative departments. We will vacate this facility effective December 31, 2021.
We lease all of our facilities and do not own any real property. We will continue to procure additional space in the future as we continue to add employees and expand geographically.
ITEM 4A. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
As of the date of filing of this annual report, we have no unresolved comments from the SEC.
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ITEM 5. OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEW AND PROSPECTS
You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with “Selected Financial Data” and our audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this annual report. The audited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IFRS as issued by the IASB, which may differ in material respects from generally accepted accounting principles in other jurisdictions, including the United States. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. You should review the “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” sections of this annual report for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.
A. Operating Results
Overview
We are a leading provider of customer support services that helps drive extraordinary customer experiences for the world’s most recognized brands. We combine our strong heritage of delivering world-class CX operations delivery with best-in-class services and solutions that span omnichannel customer engagement and support, digital marketing and customer experience management to help our clients measure customer sentiment and deliver a superior CX to their end-customers. Leveraging our proprietary Wave X purpose-built technology platform, company culture and operational excellence, we help more than 125 clients create innovative and differentiated customer experiences to help increase loyalty, enhance brand awareness and drive revenue in an era of rapid change and digital transformation.
In June 2019, we spun off our health insurance acquisition business, which was a significant portion of our customer acquisition reporting segment. As a result, we now report our financial statements on a single segment basis as Business Process Outsource (BPO).
Key Factors Affecting Our Performance
We believe that the following factors have affected our results of operations for the year ended June 30, 2021.
COVID-19
Client demand for our services remained robust despite the Pandemic, with the exception of one client whose volumes were significantly negatively impacted by the lockdowns caused by COVID-19. The high level of client demand reflects the nature of our client base, where the Pandemic increased demand for customer support, and as a result, our client pricing remained stable, and in some cases, we were able to win client bonuses related to operational execution.
From a financial perspective, during fiscal year 2020, we incurred $6.1 million (net of client reimbursements), including $4.8 million for temporary housing, meals and transportation for over 1,600 employees in the Philippines during lockdowns that shut down public transportation. In fiscal year 2021, we invested approximately $13 million in employee health, safety and wellness to help identify, slow and stop the spread of the virus in our facilities. Those investments included transportation for our employees to and from our facilities, high-grade disinfection of our CX delivery centers, appropriate social distancing measures, technology investment to contract trace and curb spread, and company-paid vaccinations.
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We believe that the Pandemic presents both medium term risks and opportunities for our business. Any weakening of the economy could have an impact on consumer demand for goods and services, thus impacting demand from consumer-facing businesses for customer support. On the other hand, our client base has a heavy preponderance of companies that either provide online services or are enablers of the online economy, and a prolongation of consumer online activity due to the Pandemic is likely to result in continued demand for services from our clients.
For additional details on the effect of COVID-19 on our performance, see “Item 3D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted our business and results of operations. The ultimate impact of COVID-19, the Delta variant and other mutations, on our business, financial condition and results of operations will depend on future developments which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time, including the scope and duration of the pandemic and actions taken by federal, state and local governmental authorities in the United States, governmental authorities in our international sites and our clients in response to the pandemic.”
Client Concentration
Our revenues are heavily dependent upon our key client relationships. Our top three “legacy” clients (i.e., our top three clients as of the end of fiscal year 2020 and 2019) accounted for 34.2%, 43.7%, and 50.6% of our revenues for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. During fiscal year 2021, our third largest client as of June 30, 2020 was replaced with our fourth largest client as of June 30, 2020. Our top three clients as of June 30, 2021 accounted for 35.0%, 43.7%, and 50.6% of our revenue for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. We have actively pursued the diversification of our client base as demonstrated by the decrease in revenue concentration of our top three clients as a percentage of our revenue.
A number of factors related to client activity that have impacted our revenues during the three years ended June 30, 2021 are discussed below:
New Client Wins
As a result of our land and expand strategy, we have been successful in winning an increasing number of new client engagements, and subsequently increasing our revenues with these clients year over year. Historically, our in-year new client wins have generated 2.5x to 3.5x revenue in the second year of the engagement, and have continued revenue growth into the third year.
Outsourcing Strategy
We believe clients are increasingly looking to utilize outsourcing partners who can provide unified solutions for a variety of touchpoints along the customer interaction value chain, from digital marketing to customer sales and support to CX and surveys. Providers with integrated offerings will command a larger share of wallet from their clients, drive a great degree of insight and performance; this ultimately drives a longer term, mutually beneficial partnership. The client selection process typically considers scale, quality of the facilities, and strength of leadership and brand of the provider in the selected market. Clients will usually reward higher-performing vendors with a greater share of their spend on customer interaction solutions. Changes in geographic strategy, where a client is looking to move business from onshore to offshore or nearshore, or balance their workload between nearshore and offshore, often create opportunities for outsourced customer interaction providers. Our geographic growth with clients is a key part of our overall growth.
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Provider Performance
Generally, our clients will re-allocate spend and market share in favor of outsourcing providers who consistently perform better and add more value than their competitors. Such re-allocation of spend can either take place on a short-term basis as higher performing providers are shielded by the client against demand volatility, or on a longer term basis as the client shifts more and more of its overall outsourcing spend and volume to higher performing providers. In addition to our growth due to new client wins, our revenues have increased with our existing clients as a result of performance-based market share gains.
Client’s Underlying Business Performance
Demand for customer interaction services reflects a client’s underlying business performance and priorities. Growth in a client’s business often results in increased demand for our customer engagement solutions. Conversely, a decline in a client’s business generally results in a decrease in demand for our customer engagement solutions, coupled with an increase in demand for our customer acquisition and expansion solutions. The correlation between business performance and demand for outsourced customer interaction solutions can therefore be complex, and depends upon several factors such as vendor consolidation, growth investment focus and overall business environment, which can result in short term revenue volatility for providers.
Product Cycles
Many of our clients regularly upgrade their product or service mix, which impacts their demand for CLX service. For example, one of our largest clients has, in recent years, followed a product release cycle which results in demand spikes that can vary in volume depending on product complexity and customer demand.
Pricing
Our revenues are dependent upon both volumes and unit pricing for our various CLX services. Client pricing is often expressed in terms of a base price as well as, in limited cases, with bonuses and occasionally penalties depending upon our achievement of certain client objectives. While base pricing during the three fiscal years ended June 30, 2021 was largely stable, we did experience periodic fluctuations based upon achievement of bonuses or incurrence of penalties.
Within our customer engagement solution, pricing for services delivered from onshore locations is higher than pricing for services delivered from offshore locations, largely driven by higher wage levels in onshore locations. Accordingly, a shift in service delivery location from onshore to offshore locations results in a decline in absolute revenues; however, margins tend to increase, in percentage and often in absolute terms, as compared to onshore service delivery.
Factors Affecting our Operating Profit Margins
A number of factors have affected our operating profit margins during the three fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019 as follows:
Capacity Utilization
As a significant portion of our customer interaction services are performed by customer-facing agents located in delivery facilities, our margins are impacted by the level of capacity utilization in those facilities. We incur substantial fixed expenses in operating such facilities. The greater the volume of interactions handled, the higher the utilization level of workstations within those facilities and the revenues generated to cover those fixed costs, thus the greater the percentage operating margin.
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As our geographic delivery location mix has continued to shift toward offshore and nearshore locations, we have invested in additional facilities in Jamaica, Nicaragua and the Philippines, with that additional capacity being gradually absorbed during the last three fiscal years. As a result, our margins have continued to increase over time reflecting the positive impact of the increase in capacity utilization of those facilities.
Labor Costs
When compensation levels of our employees increase, we may not be able to pass on such increased costs to our clients or do so on a timely basis, which tends to depress our operating profit margins if we cannot generate sufficient offsetting productivity gains. During the current economic up-cycle in the United States, competition for contact center agents has been increasing from other sectors of the economy and has resulted in upwards wage pressure. Over time, we have offset these wage increases with higher agent quality and increased productivity, leading to financial improvements. Furthermore, our overall labor cost as a percentage of revenue has decreased due to the aforementioned shift in delivery location from onshore delivery centers to nearshore and offshore centers. Our payroll and related costs have steadily decreased, representing 66.9%, 68.2%, and 69.1% as a percentage of revenue, for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively.
Attrition Among Customer Facing Agents
The delivery center industry is generally characterized by high employee turnover. Such turnover has a significant impact upon profitability as recruiting and training expenses are incurred to replace departing agents. Attrition in the United States, though high as compared to other regions, has decreased in FY21 year over year mainly driven by work at home agents’ deployment. Conversely, our Customer Acquisition solution and our offshore and nearshore operations have historically experienced low levels of turnover. Other considerations such as company culture, work conditions and general employee morale are key factors that impact employee turnover.
Delivery Location
We generate significantly greater profit margins from our work carried out by agents located in offshore and nearshore geographies compared to our work carried out from locations in the United States. As a result, our operating margins are significantly influenced by the proportion of our work delivered from these higher margin locations. Over time we have expanded and further diversified our delivery network by adding facilities in these locations offering a significant relative cost advantage. Our percentage of workstations in nearshore and offshore centers increased to 73.9% from 66.7% as of June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Inelasticity of Labor Costs Relative to Short-Term Variations in Client Demand
As our business depends on maintaining large numbers of agents to service our clients’ business needs, we tend not to terminate agents on short notice in response to temporary declines in demand in excess of agreed levels, as rehiring and retraining agents at a later date would force us to incur additional expenses. Furthermore, any termination of our employees also generally involves the incurrence of significant additional costs in the form of severance payments or early notice periods to comply with labor regulations in the various jurisdictions in which we operate our business, all of which would have an adverse impact on our operating profit margins. Similarly, we do tend to delay increases in overall headcount upon increases in short-term demand, preferring to increase agent utilization and compensating agents for the increased workload. Accordingly, these factors constrain our ability to adjust our labor costs for short-term declines in demand, but also allow us to realize significant margin accretion upon short term increases in demand that can be handled by our existing workforce. These factors are especially relevant in situations where we are paid by clients based upon actual work performed, rather than upon the number of agents made available to perform client work.
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Increases in Expenses Related to Sourcing or Generating Leads
A key element of our customer acquisition solution is the generation or purchase of leads or projects. We either generate our leads ourselves, often through digital means, or purchase our leads from external sources. Any increase in the cost of sourcing or generating leads or changes in the rate of conversion of those leads could impact our profit margins. We occasionally experience some volatility in our internal lead generation costs, either due to competitive keyword bidding by other digital marketing agencies, or due to bidding restrictions imposed by our clients.
Increased Up-Front Costs Driven by Increased Demand
Aside from short-term increases in demand for which we tend to delay increases in headcount, an increase in demand for customer interaction services typically results in an up-front increase in employee compensation expenses, due to the in-advance need to hire and train additional employees, predominantly delivery center agents, to service client campaigns. As these expenses for hiring and training our employees are typically incurred in a period before the revenues associated with the increase in demand are recognized, it has the effect of causing an initial decrease in our operating profit margins prior to the full impact of the profitability from the additional demand.
COVID-19
In fiscal year 2021, we incurred approximately $13 million of additional costs for employee health, safety and wellness to help identify, slow and stop the spread of the virus in our facilities. As long as the Pandemic persists, we expect to continue incurring these costs to maintain healthy workplaces and employees.
Net Effect of Currency Exchange Rate Fluctuations
While substantially all of our revenues are generated in U.S. dollars, a significant portion of our operating expenses are incurred outside of the United States and paid for in respective foreign currencies, principally the local currencies of the Philippines, Jamaica, Pakistan and Nicaragua. During the three fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, out of our total employee benefits expenses, 26.2%, 24.7%, and 20.3%, respectively, were incurred in the Philippine Pesos, 12.7%, 12.7%, and 10.0%, respectively, were incurred in the Jamaican Dollar and 8.8%, 7.3%, and 7.0%, respectively, were incurred in Pakistani Rupee. As a result, our operations are subject to the effects of changes in exchange rates against the U.S. dollar. See “Item 3D. Risk Factors” and Note 22.1.2 to our audited consolidated financial statements included at the end of this annual report.
Seasonality
Our business performance is subject to seasonal fluctuations. Within our customer engagement solution, some of our retail-facing clients undergo an increase in activity during the calendar year-end holiday period. These seasonal effects cause differences in revenues and expenses among the various quarters of any financial year, which means that the individual quarters should not be directly compared with each other or be used to predict annual financial results. This intra-year seasonal fluctuation is common in the BPO industry, with increased volumes during the fourth calendar quarter of the year.
Within our customer acquisition solution, our revenues may increase during the summer period when households tend to move and activate telecommunications services in their new homes, as well as during the final quarter of the calendar year when the year-end holiday season begins.
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Key Operational Metrics
We regularly prepare and review the following key operating indicators to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends in our business, prepare financial projections, allocate resources and make strategic decisions:
Workstations
The number of workstations at all of our delivery centers is a key volume metric for our business. It is defined as the number of physical workstations at a delivery center location used for production (excluding, for example, workstations in training rooms or those used by supervisors). A single workstation will typically be used for multiple shifts, and therefore there will typically be more delivery center agents than utilized workstations. From fiscal year 2016 to fiscal year 2021, our number of workstations in offshore and nearshore locations increased at a CAGR of 21%.
Work at home
The number of work at home seats is also a key volume metric for our business. It is defined as the number of production agents working at home (excluding, for example, management and corporate employees). Since the Pandemic started, we have enabled work at home seats, which have expanded significantly and this capability has become a key part of our delivery model.
Capacity Utilization
Capacity Utilization is an efficiency metric used within our business. We define Capacity Utilization as the number of on-site workstations in use plus the number of work at home seats divided by the number of on-site workstations, for the period under consideration, across all facilities in the region. In fiscal year 2020, during the height of the Pandemic, we saw capacity utilization over 100% in the nearshore region due primarily to a higher work at home employee population and / or higher on-site workstation seat turns.
The following table displays our capacity utilization by region for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively.
|
|
As of June 30, 2021 |
|
||||
|
|
Total Production |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Workstations |
|
In Use |
|
Utilization % |
|
Offshore |
|
7,335 |
|
5,195 |
|
71 |
% |
Nearshore |
|
5,909 |
|
5,213 |
|
88 |
% |
US |
|
2,153 |
|
1,773 |
|
82 |
% |
Rest of world(1) |
|
2,519 |
|
1,528 |
|
61 |
% |
Total |
|
17,916 |
|
13,709 |
|
77 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of June 30, 2020 |
|
||||
|
|
Total Production |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Workstations |
|
In Use |
|
Utilization % |
|
Offshore |
|
6,170 |
|
4,453 |
|
72 |
% |
Nearshore |
|
3,743 |
|
3,878 |
|
104 |
% |
US |
|
2,513 |
|
2,226 |
|
89 |
% |
Rest of world(1) |
|
2,430 |
|
1,894 |
|
78 |
% |
Total |
|
14,856 |
|
12,451 |
|
84 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
74
|
|
As of June 30, 2019 |
|
||||
|
|
Total Production |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Workstations |
|
In Use |
|
Utilization % |
|
Offshore |
|
4,440 |
|
3,890 |
|
88 |
% |
Nearshore |
|
2,900 |
|
2,600 |
|
90 |
% |
US |
|
3,129 |
|
2,179 |
|
70 |
% |
Rest of world(1) |
|
2,430 |
|
2,180 |
|
90 |
% |
Total |
|
12,899 |
|
10,849 |
|
84 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1) | Rest of world includes workstations in Pakistan, Senegal and the United Kingdom. |
Workstation Seat Turns
A single workstation has the potential to be used for multiple shifts. We define Workstation Seat Turn as the average number of shifts that a workstation is used. On average, our “voice only” business operates at approximately 1.3 onsite Workstation Seat Turns while our “digital and omni-channel” business attains more than 1.6 onsite Workstation Seat Turns, resulting in a higher profitability from the digital workstation. As our integrated omni-channel business has increased, so has our overall Workstation Seat Turns.
Throughout fiscal year 2021, our Workstation Seat Turns were negatively impacted by the safety protocols that were necessary as a result of the Pandemic. For more information, please see “Risk Factors—The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted our business and results of operations. The ultimate impact of COVID-19, the Delta variant and other mutations, on our business, financial condition and results of operations will depend on future developments which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time, including the scope and duration of the pandemic and actions taken by federal, state and local governmental authorities in the United States, governmental authorities in our international sites and our clients in response to the pandemic.”
Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
A substantial majority of revenues in our contact center solution are based upon a price per unit of time or customer interaction. In such case, we either charge (1) a base rate per unit of time (i.e., per hour worked or per minute interacting with customers) that an agent is engaged in servicing the client’s customers or (2) an overall rate per customer interaction (i.e., price per call handled). Base rates could be adjusted up or down depending upon our performance against metrics agreed upon with each client.
A substantial majority of digital services revenues is generated under a fee-per-customer arrangement in which clients pay a fixed commission for each customer that we successfully acquire on their behalf. In some cases, we also receive a commission payment upon the annual renewal of that acquired customer. We also receive incentive payments upon the achievement of certain volume thresholds.
Operating Expenses
Payroll and Related Costs
Payroll and related costs consist of salaries, incentive compensation and employee benefits for all employees. The majority of this category relates to personnel engaged in client-facing service delivery, including delivery center agents, supervisors and other operations personnel of a client-facing nature. These costs will generally increase in proportion to our revenue. The remaining expenses in this category relate to salaries, incentive compensation and employee benefits for full-time employees in our accounting, finance, human resources, legal, strategy, sales, marketing, client services, administrative and executive management functions. While these costs also generally increase in relation to our revenue, they do so at a lower rate and are semi-fixed in nature.
75
Share-based Payments
Share-based payments consist primarily of costs related to the issuance of equity awards under our various equity compensation plans. For further details, see “Critical Accounting Estimates and Judgments.”
Reseller Commission and Lead Expenses
Reseller commission and lead expenses consist of the costs of generating or purchasing leads, which are expenses directly associated with acquiring new customers. These costs will generally increase in proportion to revenues from our digital solution and are therefore variable costs. Within this solution, we either generate our own leads or purchase leads from third parties, and then use our telephone-based sales agents to convert these leads into actual sales for our clients. We are then paid by our clients upon validation and confirmation of that sale. When we generate our own leads, we often do so pursuant to an online search that results in an interested visitor on our web properties, in which case we pay the search engine provider. When we purchase leads from outside providers, we do so from companies that originate leads for a variety of marketing purposes and sell them to companies such as us. All our expenses associated either with the internal generation of leads or the purchase of leads from third party providers are classified as lead expenses.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation and amortization relates to the depreciation of property, plant and equipment, right-of-use assets, and amortization of our software licenses and other definite lived intangibles.
Other Operating Costs
Other operating costs (recurring and non-recurring) including rent and utilities, telecommunication, repairs and maintenance, travel, housing, meals, local transportation, insurance, legal and professional, as well as other miscellaneous expenses. These costs will generally increase in relation to our revenue, although at a lower rate than variable expenses. This category also includes certain other expenses such as goodwill and intangibles impairment, foreign exchange gain or loss and allowance for expected credit losses.
Income / (Loss) from Operations
Income / (loss) from operations is our earnings before interest and taxes and is a measure of our income / (loss) from ordinary operations. Income (loss) from operations is calculated as revenues minus total operating expenses.
Finance Expenses
Finance costs consist principally of interest and other expenses paid on right of use leases, short- and long-term loans and borrowings, interest accrued on the redeemable preferred shares and convertible preferred shares, and interest and expenses on current account overdrafts.
Income Tax (Expense) / Benefit
Income tax (expense) / benefit consists of the corporate income tax to be paid on our corporate profit, including deferred tax.
Net income / (loss) for the year, continuing operations
Net income / (loss) for the year, continuing operations, for the period consists of total loss for the period from continuing operations.
76
Net income on discontinued operation, net of tax
Net income on discontinued operation, net of tax, for the period consists of total income for the period from discontinuing operations, net of tax.
Net income / (loss) for the year
Net income / (loss) for the year consists of total income/(loss) for the period from continuing operations and from discontinued operations.
Results of Operations
Consolidated Statement of Profit or Loss
The following summarizes the results of our operations for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019:
|
|
Fiscal Year ended June 30, |
|||||||
US$ in thousands |
|
2021 |
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
|||
Revenue |
|
$ |
443,662 |
|
$ |
405,135 |
|
$ |
368,380 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Payroll and related costs |
|
|
296,799 |
|
|
276,255 |
|
|
254,592 |
Share-based payments |
|
|
4,521 |
|
|
359 |
|
|
4,087 |
Reseller commission and lead expenses |
|
|
13,749 |
|
|
17,328 |
|
|
27,877 |
Depreciation and amortization |
|
|
28,197 |
|
|
24,472 |
|
|
20,895 |
Fair value adjustment |
|
|
9,732 |
|
|
3,138 |
|
|
(364) |
Other operating costs |
|
|
76,865 |
|
|
64,070 |
|
|
54,488 |
Income / (loss) from operations |
|
$ |
13,799 |
|
$ |
19,513 |
|
$ |
6,805 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Finance expenses |
|
|
(9,034) |
|
|
(9,428) |
|
|
(7,709) |
Income / (loss) before taxation, continuing operations |
|
$ |
4,765 |
|
$ |
10,085 |
|
$ |
(904) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Income tax (expense) / benefit |
|
|
(1,918) |
|
|
(2,315) |
|
|
(3,615) |
Net income / (loss) for the year, continuing operations |
|
$ |
2,847 |
|
$ |
7,770 |
|
$ |
(4,519) |
Net income on discontinued operation, net of tax |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
15,484 |
Net income / (loss) for the year |
|
$ |
2,847 |
|
$ |
7,770 |
|
$ |
10,965 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
77
Fiscal Years Ended June 30, 2021 and 2020
Revenue
Our revenue was $443.7 million in fiscal year 2021, an increase of $38.5 million, or 9.5%, compared to the prior year. Since our shift to the digital-first marketplace in fiscal year 2016, the clients we have won now make up more than $230 million, or 52%, of our current revenues. We partner with approximately 75% of these clients to provide integrated omni-channel solutions which we believe make our relationships with them stronger and more defensible. Our global operational excellence and client-first focus has yielded a 40% annual revenue growth rate over fiscal year 2020 for these clients. We won 23 new clients during the year, primarily in the Retail and E-Commerce, FinTech and HealthTech verticals. Of the 23 new clients won in fiscal year 2021, 22 launched during the year, contributing nearly $30 million of revenue in the year, and on average, clients won in the current year typically contribute approximately 2.5 to 3.5 times in the subsequent year. Our client concentration continues to improve. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, our top three clients as of June 30, 2021 represented 35.0% of overall revenue, down from 43.7% in the prior year, exiting the year at 31.3% in the fourth quarter. By vertical market, Retail and E-Commerce increased to 19.6% of annual revenue, compared to 16.8% in the prior year. FinTech and HealthTech, where we made strategic investments in early fiscal year 2020, increased significantly to 19.3% combined in the fourth quarter, which is a sequential quarter increase from 14.5% and an increase from 9.8% in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020. Conversely, telecommunications decreased to 29.3% of annual revenue, exiting the year at 24.9% in the fourth quarter.
Operating Expenses
The Company incurred costs related to COVID-19 of approximately $13 million ($8.3 million non-recurring) and $7 million (all non-recurring), in fiscal years 2021 and 2020, respectively, for employee health, safety and wellness to help identify, slow and stop the spread of the virus in our facilities, including local transportation for our employees to and from our facilities, high-grade disinfection of our CX delivery centers, appropriate social distancing measures, contract tracing, and company-paid vaccinations. Non-recurring costs are defined as those that are expected to end once the Pandemic subsides, whereas recurring costs are defined as those that may have already been occurring but due to the Pandemic have increased in amount, or new expenses that were necessary due to the Pandemic but that the Company now considers best practice and expects to continue to incur into the future regardless of the Pandemic.
Total operating expenses were $429.9 million in fiscal year 2021, an increase of $44.3 million, or 11.5%, compared to last year. The increase in operating expenses was primarily due to an increase in payroll and related cost by $20.5 million, an increase in the fair value adjustment related to the Amazon warrant of $6.6 million, an increase in share-based payments of $4.2 million, an increase in other operating expenses by $12.8 million, partially offset by a decrease in reseller commissions and lead expenses by $3.6 million. COVID-19 related expenses and incremental ongoing costs associated with our recent listing as a public company contributed to increased operating expenses in the current fiscal year as compared to the prior year.
Payroll and related costs were $296.8 million in fiscal year 2021, an increase of $20.5 million, or 7.4%, compared to the prior year. As a percent of revenue, payroll costs decreased to 66.9% compared to 68.2% in the prior year. This decrease was primarily driven by the headcount growth in our nearshore and offshore regions as a percent of overall headcount growth as demand for services in those regions continues to increase. In addition, in fiscal year 2021, $1.9 million in non-recurring local transportation allowances were paid to offshore employees because of COVID-19 disruptions that did not exist in the prior year.
Share-based payment expenses were $4.5 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, an increase of $4.2 million, compared to the prior year. The increase in share-based payments expense was primarily related to recently issued option grants.
78
Reseller commissions and lead expenses were $13.7 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, a decrease of $3.6 million, or 20.7%, compared to the prior year. The decrease was primarily due to a changing sales mix to products with higher net margins and to lower year over year revenue associated with this expense.
Depreciation and amortization expense increased $3.7 million (including an increase in right of use depreciation of $1.9 million), or 15.2%, to $28.2 million in the current year compared to the prior year. The increase in depreciation and amortization was primarily related to the expansion of existing and opening of new delivery centers in the Philippines and Jamaica. As a percentage of revenue, depreciation and amortization expense has increased slightly, to 6.4% in the current year compared to 6.0% in the prior year.
The increase in the fair value adjustment related to the Amazon warrant was primarily related to our recent initial public offering and the related increase in the share price compared to the prior year.
The increase in other operating costs was primarily attributable to a $9.8 million increase in local transportation expenses ($8.3 million related to COVID-19 for nearshore and offshore delivery centers and $1.5 million related to nearshore delivery centers), $4.5 million of additional facilities expenses related to new delivery centers, $2.2 million related to work-at-home technology solutions, and incremental ongoing costs related to our recent listing as a public company, offset by a $6.3 million decrease in travel and housing primarily due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Income / (loss) from operations
Income from operations was $13.8 million compared to $19.5 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. The decrease was primarily due to strong revenue growth driven by digital-first clients, expanding margins due to expansion in nearshore and offshore regions, along with increasing onshore margins, and some operating leverage, offset by higher expenses related to COVID-19, an increase in the fair value of the Amazon warrant and share-based payment expense, and incremental ongoing costs related to our recent listing as a public company.
Finance Expenses
Finance expenses were $9.0 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, a decrease of $0.4 million compared to the same period in 2020. During the year, the Company paid off high interest rate borrowings and leases, which was partially offset by additional interest expense on new facilities leases.
Income Tax Expense
Income tax expense was $1.9 million in fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, a decrease of $0.4 million compared to the $2.3 million income tax expense during the prior year. The effective tax rate was negatively impacted in the current year primarily due to an increase in the fair value adjustment of the Amazon warrant in a non-taxable jurisdiction.
Net income / (loss) for the year, continuing operations and net income for the year
As a result of the factors described above, net income for the year, continuing operations, was $2.8 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, a decrease of $4.9 million, compared to $7.8 million in the prior year.
79
Fiscal Years Ended June 30, 2020 and 2019
Revenue
Our revenue was $405.1 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, an increase of $36.8 million, or 10.0%, compared to the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019. The increase in revenue was due to a strong performance of our contact center services. $12.3 million of this increase was attributable to revenue from twenty-four new clients onboarded during fiscal year 2020 (versus twenty-two new clients onboarded during fiscal year 2019) and another $37.3 million resulted from continuing ramps from clients onboarded in fiscal year 2019. The growth in our revenue was offset by a decline in revenue of $13.7 million from a client in one of the mature industry sectors that we serve where a strategic decision was made by management to wind down our activity on this lower-margin line of business mid-year in fiscal year 2019, which we have replaced with higher margin business (albeit at a lower revenue level).
Operating Expenses
Total operating expenses were $385.6 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, an increase of $24.0 million, or 6.7%, compared to the same period in 2019. The increase in operating expenses was primarily due to an increase in payroll and related cost by $21.7 million or 8.5%, other operating costs (including COVID-19 related costs of $7.1 million) by $13.1 million or 24.2%, and depreciation and amortization by $3.6 million, or 17.1%, compared to the same period in 2019, and partially offset by a decrease in share-based payments by $3.7 million, or 91.2%, and reseller commission and lead expenses by $10.5 million, or 37.8%, compared to the same period in 2019.
Payroll and related costs were $276.3 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, an increase of $21.7 million, or 8.5%, compared to the same period in 2019. As a result of improved operational efficiency, payroll costs decreased as a percentage of revenue from fiscal year 2019 to fiscal year 2020.
Share-based payments were $0.4 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, a decrease of $3.7 million, or 91.2%, compared to the same period in 2019. The decrease in share-based payments was due primarily to share-based expense related to the 2017 IBEX Plan of $4.2 million recorded in 2019 (including the accelerated expense of $3.3 million recorded upon cancellation of such plan in 2019) offset by the share-based payment expense of new Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) of $0.3 million.
Reseller commissions and lead expenses were $17.3 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, a decrease of $10.5 million, or 37.8%, compared to the same period in 2019, primarily as a result of an improvement in operational efficiencies resulting from an increase in sales conversion rates ($3.7 million) and our choice to exit an unprofitable contract towards the end of fiscal year 2019 ($6.8 million).
Depreciation and amortization expense was $24.5 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, an increase of $3.6 million, or 17.1%, compared to the same period in 2019. The increase in depreciation and amortization was due to an increase in depreciation expense of right-of-use assets by $2.0 million and $1.6 million increase in depreciation of other assets primarily due to facilities expansion.
The fair value adjustment related to the Amazon warrant increased $3.5 million due to an increase in the fair market value of the Company’s share price and the number of shares expected to vest year over year.
80
Other operating costs were $64.1 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, an increase of $9.6 million, or 17.6% compared to the same period in 2019. The increase in other operating costs was primarily attributable to an increase in facilities expense of $4.3 million (including COVID related costs of $1.0 million), an increase in rent and utilities of $1.5 million, an increase in travel and housing of $1.6 million (including COVID related temporary housing of $3.9 million and a decrease in normal travel of $2.2 million), an increase in local transportation of $1.8 million (including COVID related local transportation costs of $1.4 million), a decrease in legal and professional settlements (offset COVID related costs of $0.8 million), and other expenses including an increase in impairment of intellectual property assets of $0.6 million.
Income / (loss) from operations
As a result of the above, income from operations was $19.5 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, an increase of $12.7 million, compared to $6.8 million income from operations recognized during same period in 2019. Our operating profit margin increased from 1.8% in fiscal year 2019 to 4.8% in fiscal year 2020.
The significant improvements in income from operations and operating profit margin in fiscal year 2020 were driven by several factors. First, our nearshore geographies attained scale during fiscal year 2019 and resulted in significant operating leverage in those geographies that had not been fully achieved in prior years. Second, our overall increase in revenue in fiscal year 2020 took place without the need to add significant additional capacity, which had a positive impact upon profitability levels. We also invested significantly in our operational management capabilities towards the end of fiscal year 2019 and upgraded our global operations leadership. The sharpened focus on operational efficiencies in fiscal year 2020 resulted in increased operating margins. We have continued to exercise significant control over our fixed costs across all geographies as well as shared fixed costs, which has resulted in increased operating leverage with increasing revenues. During fiscal year 2020, we also benefited from higher margins associated with our growth from nearshore and offshore delivery centers, as compared to our onshore delivery centers.
Finance Expenses
Finance expenses were $9.4 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, an increase of $1.7 million compared to the same period in 2019.
The increase in finance expenses was due primarily to additional finance expenses on right-of-use leases added during the year.
Income Tax (Expense) / Benefit
Income tax expense was $2.3 million in fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, a decrease of $1.3 million compared to the $3.6 million income tax expense during the same period in 2019. The decrease in tax expense was primarily attributable to a non-recurring deferred tax expense of $3.1 million related to the cancellation of the 2017 IBEX Plan recognized in fiscal year ended June 30, 2019.
Net income / (loss) for the year, continuing operations
As a result of the factors described above, net income for the year, continuing operations, was $7.8 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, an increase of $12.3 million, compared to a $4.5 million net loss for the year, continuing operations, during the same period in 2019.
Net income on discontinued operation, net of tax
As a result of the operations of Etelequote Limited, a discontinued operation, net income on discontinued operation, net of tax, was nil in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, and $15.5 million, during the same period in 2019. For more information about our disposition of Etelequote Limited, refer to Note 30.2 to our audited consolidated financial statements included at the end of this annual report.
81
Net income / (loss) for the year
As a result of the factors described above, net income for the year was $7.8 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, compared to $11.0 million net income for the year during the same period in 2019. Notwithstanding net income on discontinued operations, net of tax, net income rose by $12.3 million compared to prior year.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We present non-GAAP financial measures because we believe that they and other similar measures are widely used by certain investors, securities analysts and other interested parties as supplemental measures of performance and liquidity. We also use these measures internally to establish forecasts, budgets and operational goals to manage and monitor our business, as well as evaluate our underlying historical performance, as we believe that these non-GAAP financial measures depict the true performance of the business by encompassing only relevant and controllable events, enabling us to evaluate and plan more effectively for the future. The non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies and have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our operating results as reported under IFRS as issued by the IASB. Non-GAAP financial measures and ratios are not measurements of our performance, financial condition or liquidity under IFRS as issued by the IASB and should not be considered as alternatives to operating profit or net income / (loss) or as alternatives to cash flow from operating, investing or financing activities for the period, or any other performance measures, derived in accordance with IFRS as issued by the IASB or any other generally accepted accounting principles.
Adjusted net income / (loss) from continuing operations
We define “adjusted net income / (loss) from continuing operations” as net income / (loss) less net income from discontinued operation, net of tax, before the effect of the following items: non-recurring expenses (including litigation and settlement expenses, costs related to COVID-19, and listing costs), amortization of warrant asset, foreign exchange gains or losses, fair value measurement of share warrants, share-based payments, gain or loss on disposal of fixed assets and/or lease terminations, and impairment of intangibles, as applicable, net of the tax effect of such adjustments.
We use adjusted net income and pro forma adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations internally to establish forecasts, budgets and operational goals to manage and monitor our business, as well as evaluate our underlying historical performance. We believe that adjusted net income and pro forma adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations are meaningful indicators of performance as it reflects what we believe is closer to the actual results of our business performance by removing items that we believe are not reflective of our underlying business. We also believe that adjusted net income and pro forma adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations may be widely used by investors, securities analysts and other interested parties as a supplemental measure of performance.
Adjusted net income and pro forma adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies and has limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our operating results as reported under IFRS as issued by the IASB. Because of these limitations, you should consider adjusted net income and pro forma adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations in conjunction with other IFRS-based financial performance measures, including net income from operations, net income / (loss), and our other IFRS financial results.
82
The following table provides a reconciliation of adjusted net income to our net income / (loss) from continuing operations for the periods presented:
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Year ended June 30, |
|
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|
2021 |
|
2020 |
|
|
2019 |
|
||||||||||
US$ in thousands, except share and per share amounts, unaudited |
|
|
Amount |
|
Per Share |
|
Amount |
|