Feb 25 (Reuters) - French outsourcing and call centre group
Teleperformance said on Thursday it expected the
global shift towards digitalisation to outlast the
COVID-19-driven lockdowns.
Deputy Chief Executive Olivier Rigaudy told reporters the
company saw a lasting trend to more digital work, with no
disruptions expected from the easing of lockdowns, which should
boost its business also in longer term.
"We are taking more and more market share," Rigaudy said,
adding Teleperformance had been early to get involved in the
digital world.
Teleperformance, which employs more than 380,000 around the
world, counts global giants such as Google, Facebook
and Netflix among its customers. Analysts have
tipped the company as a potential winner of the post COVID-19
world, driven by the digitalisation trends.
Just like its clients, Teleperformance had to move much of
its workforce to work from home over the past year and now says
more than 250,000 of its employees continue to work remotely.
The company's market value increased by a fourth in 2020
despite an initial pandemic slump in March, as it quickly
bounced back and demonstrated strong sales recovery throughout
the second half of the year.
Teleperformance said it expected to report like-for-like
revenue growth of at least 9% this year, along with an operating
profit (EBITA) margin of more than 14% excluding one-off items.
For 2020, it reported 11.6% like-for-like revenue growth to
5.7 billion euros ($6.96 billion), just above analysts' estimate
in a Refinitiv poll. EBITA margin came in at 12.8%, compared
with the company's own forecast of at least 12.5%.
The group also confirmed its 2022 financial targets of a 7
billion euro revenue on annual like-for-like growth of at least
6%, and an EBITA margin of around 14.5%.
($1 = 0.8185 euros)
(Reporting by Milla Nissi in Gdansk
Additional reporting by Kate Entringer
Editing by Tomasz Janowski)