EXL mulls acquisitions in Europe

Delhi-based business process outsourcing (BPO) major EXL Services is looking at acquisitions to better its global delivery model.

Vikram Talwar, executive chairman of the EXL board, said the company is mulling over acquisitions in eastern Europe this year. “Our workflow has increased across the insurance, utilities and transportation sectors and to better our services in these sectors, we might look at acquiring a company that would help us achieve cost advantage,” he said.

EXL is also looking at expanding its offerings to the healthcare sector in geographies such as the US and UK, where it is already has a presence in other sectors. Talwar added that the company has been making a steady growth in its transformation business across an increasingly diversified base of client relationships. “Importantly, our pipeline of transformation clients that may evolve into outsourcing clients is also strong and our overall vision and business strategy is aligned with the market,” he said.

EXL’s financial revenues for the quarter ended September 2008 recorded an increase of 17.8 per cent to $46.6 million from $39.5 million in the quarter ended September 2007, and was essentially flat as compared to $47.0 million in the quarter ended June 2008. Talwar said that growth could come this quarter, thanks to the volume growth in the deals. “Pricing pressures are tighter than ever but volumes of outsourced work continues to rise as clients send more outsourced work.”

EXL won four strategic outsourcing clients in Q308, namely two in its insurance vertical and two in its utilities vertical. Talwar also predicted a few million-dollar deals happening for the company. As a result of increased demand from existing clients, EXL had earlier announced plans to add an additional delivery facility with 300 seats in the fourth quarter of 2008.