SPI Technologies posts P123-M profit in 2nd qtr

SPI Technologies raked in a record P123 million in profits during the past quarter, bringing up its consolidated net income in the first nine months of 2002 to P125 million, or a sharp turnaround from a P50-million net loss in the same period last year, the company informed the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday.

SPI attributed the strong growth to the successful ramp up of its large multi-year content conversion project, the acquisition of a major book publishing service provider and the continued profitability of its call center business.

The company is now one of Asia’s leading providers of business process outsourcing (BPO) services, offering a diversified line of information technology services which include call centers, content conversion, litigation support, scholarly publisher services and software services. Most of its clients are blue chip companies based in the US and Europe.

"Our third quarter financial results and operational achievements represent further progress in an outstanding year for SPI," company president and CEO Ernest Cu said. "We are reaping the benefits of our strategy of entering into attractive sectors of the rapidly growing global BPO services industry where we can leverage SPI’s established track record and highly competitive workforce," he added.

In nine months this year, SPI posted revenues of P1.6 billion, representing a 50 percent increase from the previous year. In the third quarter alone, revenues reached P666 million, or 61 percent more than a year earlier.

SPI said the move from the start up phase to the profit optimization phase was evident in both its large multi-year digital content conversion project with Elsevier Science as well as in eTelecare, its call center business.

The company was contracted by Elvesier Science, the world’s largest publisher of scientific, technical and medical journals, for the digital conversion of approximately 40 to 50 million pages of books and journals.

ETelecare, meanwhile, increased its clients from 11 to 15 since the second quarter, and has increased its revenues by 187 percent in the third quarter to P235 million, contributing P9 million in profits.

Early this month, SPI tapped the Mumbai-based Edelweiss Capital Ltd. to help the company further explore and expand its business presence in the international market. Edelweiss Capital is a full-service investment bank specializing in the corporate finance requirements of emerging and middle market corporations having had significant experience in both the BPO and software services industries, raising over $100 million of private equity to its clients since 1998.

Last month, SPI branched out into book production with its acquisition of the US-based Achorn Graphics Inc., a well regarded supplier of full composition services largely to book publishers. The acquisition is seen to contribute $2 million in annual revenues to SPI.

Achorn is a full-service typesetting vendor that has been in the business for 25 years, producing products ranging from novels and children’s books to high-end medical journals and college textbooks.