IPVG's BPO unit gets PEZA accreditation

BPO Teleservices has been accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) as an ecozone information technology (IT) enterprise, thus entitling it to operate the call center business in IBM Plaza Building at the Eastwood City Cyberpark. 

BPO Teleservices is a 100 percent owned subsidiary of IP BPO Holdings Pte Ltd, the holding company of IT and gaming firm IPVO Corp. in Singapore which holds all of IPVG’s investments in voice business process outsourcing(BPO) companies in America, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Publicly-listed IPVG has said it expects its business to grow by as much as 30 percent this year despite a slowing global company.

According to IPVG chief executive officer Enrique Gonzalez, the holding firm’s businesses, which range from BPO to online gaming, would be sheltered from the downturn.

“Fortunately, IPVG’s businesses are resilient, and our sectors forecast healthy organic growth rates of 20 percent to 30 percent,” he said.

But the profit growth will be slower than last year, when IPVG made the transition from a local company with 252 employees into a global group with more than 2,500 workers across seven countries.

“[Last year] was a phenomenal year for IPVG in terms of operating and financial performance,” he said.

IPVG posted a net profit of P130.9 million in the third quarter last year, almost 75 percent higher than a year earlier.

Revenues also went up more than three times to almost P1 billion, already surpassing the 2007 level of P714.56 million.

IPVG’s net profit reached P169.54 million in 2007, a reversal of the net loss of more than P100 million in 2006.

Officials have said the company would buy fewer assets this year and would only consider investing in ventures with low risk and high return.

Last year, IPVG bought five companies in the online content and BPO sectors for about $30 million.

“We expect a slowdown in global economic growth, with many of the first world economies (US, UK and Japan) going into recession,” Gonzalez said.

Slowing spending in developed markets will affect exports from Asia, he added.

Earlier, he said the online gaming industry is expected to grow by a third this year, as video gamers remain indifferent to a financial crisis wreaking havoc on the world economy.

Meanwhile, IPVG unit IP-Converge Data Center, Inc. expects to increase revenues by a tenth this year.

IP-Converge offers IT and telecommunication services to businesses and other service providers. These include Internet data center services, dedicated Internet connectivity, network security, voice over Internet protocol.

“Overall, we can still expect the market to grow, though slightly curtailed due to the impact of the economic recession in the US,” IP-Converge president Reynaldo Huergas earlier said.

Companies, he added, would be cutting down on acquisitions, particularly software.

Huergas said the company would try to attract new clients and retain existing ones by offering discounts and more value-added services.

IPVG earlier said it would take steps to cut costs by a third, including a smaller budget for advertising and marketing, travel and other expenses not related to the company’s core business.