0422:06 Paxys net up on call-center demand

Manila Times
April 22, 2006

 

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Paxys net up on call-center demand

HIGH demand for its services boosted the profits of the Philippines' only publicly listed call-center company. In a report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Paxys Inc. said its earnings rose 176 percent to P339 million last year, indicating the profitability of the local industry. Operating profit was also up 132.33 percent to P522.17 million. This was mainly due to service income, which increased 115 percent to P1.4 billion last year. "The increase in service income is also attributable to additional services and promotions of a local client that requires additional number of seats and to the increase in production of old clients. From 800 seats beginning 2004, ACS ended the year 2005 with 3,000 seats," the company said, referring to its unit Advanced Contact Solutions, which is engaged in the call-center business. Gross profit for the year increased 104 percent while its gross profit margin was slightly lower at 44 percent from 46 percent in 2004. The company said the decline was due to salary restructuring, an increase in employee benefits, more depreciation on equipment related to expansion, allocation of overhead to cost of services and additional expenses incurred to improve quality of service and good working condition for employees. "The company spent substantial amount of training cost in the second quarter of the year for the training activities that were conducted for the new work programs," the company added. Paxys put up the ACS Training Academy where agents can acquire new skills that may assist in their career development and could improve the quality of service they are providing to their customers. Late in 2004 the company also put up an employee care center, which has Internet stations, billiards and dartboards, videoke rooms and massage and sleeping rooms for the use of employees. On November 3 the company launched a grant program for executives and key employees amounting to P11.87 million. This was taken up as an expense last year. The marketing expense amounting to P17 million was substantially higher than the P3 million incurred in 2004. This was due to the company's effort to leverage its organization by reaching out to other markets such as United Kingdom, Australia and Asia. Interest expense for the amounted to P29 million, a 286-percent increase over the same period last year. This was due to interest on the new loans from local banks and an increase in interest rates on dollar-denominated obligations. --Cai U. Ordinario

 

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