Fast-growing call center allots $5M for expansion

Paxys Inc., one of the fastest-growing call center firms in the country, has earmarked $5 million this year for the continued expansion of its call center business.

In a briefing with reporters following the company’s annual shareholders meeting Friday, Paxys chairman Tarcisio Medalla said the company expects to end the year with a total of 4,500 seats from only 3,300 in 2005.

Medalla said the company is also looking at firming up its presence in Australia.

Paxys earlier signed an agreement to acquire full ownership of Smart Salary Pty. Ltd., Australia’s second largest outsourced remunerating packaging administration company, for A$36.7 million in cash and new shares of Paxys.

Under the agreement, the sellers have an option to receive a portion of the purchase price in new shares of stock of Paxys.

Smart Salary’s services ensure the implementation of a well-aligned salary packaging policy and the delivery of a comprehensive tax management reporting suite. The company also provides associated services for its clients, such as financial planning, car lease finance broking and other related employee benefits.

Over the last two years, Smart Salary has been ranked among the top 25 companies in the Business Review Weekly’s FAST 100 index of Australia’s fastest growing small to medium sized companies. It now employs almost 100 staff, across five Australian capital cities, providing high quality service to over 55,000 employees across 55 employer organizations.

Medalla said Paxys is expected to post a $10.4 million (roughly P540.8 million) net profit this year, up 59 percent from P339.23 million in 2005. Revenues are likewise projected to grow to $42 million or P2.18 billion, 56 percent higher than the previous year’s P1.4 billion.

The growth will come mainly from new clients and new markets.

Medalla is hopeful that new acquisitions would add value to the company.

Aside from Smart Salary, Paxys also acquired 4.4 million common shares of Global Idealogy Corp., a leading provider of corporate mobile software applications in the domestic pharmaceutical industry for P10.45 million. The deal also covered 2.15 million warrants.

Paxys said the acquisition of GIC is intended to support its strategic intent to broaden and deepen its product and service offerings in the business processing outsourcing sector.

Its goal is not only to expand its core voice services but also to diversify into advance data services and eventually advance into IT outsourcing and other information technology solutions.