(Reuters) -French outsourcing and call centre group Teleperformance on Thursday said it expected lower growth in 2022, due to a decrease in contributions from COVID-related contracts.
Teleperformance, which employs more than 420,000 call centre workers worldwide, forecast like-for-like revenue growth this year above 5%, and a 15.4% earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) margin before non-recurring items.
For 2021, it posted an EBITA margin before non-recurring items at 15.1%, on revenue of 7.12 billion euros ($8.09 billion), up 25.7% like-for-like, above Refinitiv estimates of 6.99 billion euros.
"The COVID contracts will not all disappear, but indeed we will have a bit less volume and reduced costs, but we see growth as all our customers are going digital," Finance Chief Olivier Rigaudy said in a call.
Demand from businesses for online services skyrocketed in 2021 as the COVID-19 crisis pushed companies and public administrations to keep their activities afloat remotely.
Teleperformance shares rose about 40% in 2021, out-performing the STOXX sub-Index for pan-European industrial goods and services, up 20% last year, according to Refinitiv data.
However, since the beginning of the year the pan-European industrial goods index has dived 9% and Teleperformance about 20%, as inflation concerns and higher rate expectations pulled markets down.
Yet the group remains confident on its "ability to pass on price increases to its customers to counteract the rise in salaries," Rigaudy said.
For 2025, the firm expects to reach revenue above 10 billion euros and an EBITA margin before non-recurring items of 16%.