ICT GROUP Revises Fourth Quarter 2006 Guidance; Confirms Positive Outlook for 2007
Newtown, PA, January 4, 2007 – ICT GROUP, Inc. (NASDAQ: ICTG), has revised its fourth quarter 2006 guidance to reflect the impact of a confluence of one-time events that occurred late in the period.
Call center productivity reductions resulting from the late December Colorado blizzards and the earthquake in Taiwan, which damaged telecommunications lines to the Philippines, along with costs associated with the Company's December 4, 2006, acquisition of Argentina-based Proyectar Connect S.A., have caused ICT GROUP to revise its expectations for fourth quarter 2006 revenue and earnings per diluted share. The Company now anticipates that fourth quarter revenue will approximate $116 million, inclusive of the acquisition, and that diluted earnings per share will be in the range of $0.30 to $0.34. Revised earnings guidance for the period is based on approximately 16 million shares outstanding and takes into account the full year benefit of the late December signing of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit ("WOTC"), which was retroactive to January 1, 2006, and is expected to reduce the company's income taxes by $600,000 to $700,000.
On October 26, 2006, ICT GROUP reported its third quarter earnings and announced an anticipated fourth quarter 2006 revenue range of $116 to $118 million and a range for diluted earnings per share of $ 0.36 to $0.40, based on an effective tax rate of 14% and approximately 16 million shares outstanding.
John J. Brennan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer stated, "We are very proud of the rapid and efficient response of ICT GROUP employees to these events, and we appreciate the support of our telecom providers and the assistance of the local authorities. As a result of everyone's cooperation, ICT GROUP was able to minimize disruptions in customer service."
"Additionally," Mr. Brennan noted, "I am pleased to report that the 2006 fourth quarter was one of the strongest new business quarters in the Company's history, for both traditional contact center services as well as ICT GROUP's higher margin CRM services. This puts us in an excellent position to achieve and potentially exceed our growth expectations for 2007."
Based on the revised guidance for the 2006 fourth quarter, ICT GROUP expects that revenue for full year 2006 will be approximately $447 million, inclusive of the Proyectar acquisition and that diluted earnings per share will range from $1.09 to $1.13.
Taking into account the recent acquisition, the Company now expects 2007 call volume to increase over 20% and revenue to increase approximately 12% compared to full year 2006. Net income for full year 2007, which will be favorably affected by the acquisition and the above-mentioned tax benefit, is now expected to increase by 45%, compared to full year 2006. The Company is scheduled to report its full year 2006 financial results on February 22, 2007.
ICT GROUP, headquartered in Newtown, Pa., is a leading global provider of customer management and business process outsourcing solutions. The Company provides a comprehensive mix of customer care/retention, acquisition, up-selling/cross-selling, technical support, market research and database marketing as well as e-mail management, data entry/collections, claims processing and document management services, using its global network of onshore, near-shore and offshore operations. ICT GROUP also provides interactive voice response (IVR) and advanced speech recognition solutions as well as hosted Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technologies, available for use by clients at their own in-house facility or on a co-sourced basis in conjunction with the Company's fully integrated contact center operations. To learn more about how ICT GROUP can help your business, click here, or call 800-201-1085.
Important Cautionary Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, such as expected call volumes, offshore call production, workstation expansion, revenue and earnings and the anticipated demand for ICT GROUP's services. The forward-looking statements involve assumptions and are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. Whenever possible, forward-looking statements are preceded by, followed by or include the words "believes," "expects," "anticipates" or similar expressions, which speak only as of the date the statement is made. ICT GROUP assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. For such statements, ICT GROUP claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual events or results of operations, cash flows and financial condition of ICT GROUP may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including without limitation, those discussed in ICT GROUP's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, and other documents, such as reports on Form 8-K and reports on Form 10-Q filed by ICT GROUP with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although ICT GROUP believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct and we undertake no obligation to update such expectations.
Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from ICT GROUP's expectations, or that could materially and adversely affect ICT GROUP's financial condition, may include, but are not limited to, the following, many of which are outside ICT GROUP's control: customer demand for a client's product or service, the client's budgets and plans and other conditions affecting the client's industry, interest and foreign currency exchange rates (including the effectiveness of strategies to manage fluctuations in these rates), a client invoking cancellation or similar provisions of the client contract, demand for labor and the resulting impact on labor rates paid by ICT GROUP, unanticipated labor difficulties, unanticipated contract or technical difficulties, identifying and opening planned contact centers within timeframes necessary to meet client demands, reliance on strategic partners, industry and government regulation affecting ICT GROUP or its clients, interruptions or failures of ICT GROUP's technology infrastructure or of telephone services due to natural disasters and other factors, unusually severe weather, general and local economic conditions, competitive pressures in ICT GROUP's industry, the cost to prosecute, defend or settle litigation by or against ICT GROUP, judgments, orders, rulings and other developments in or affecting litigation by or against ICT GROUP, ICT GROUP's capital and financing needs, ICT GROUP's ability to integrate acquired businesses, terrorist attacks and the impact of war. These factors, as well as others, such as conditions in the securities markets and actual or perceived results or developments affecting companies in our industry, could affect the trading price of our common stock.
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