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ICT GROUP EXPANDS U.S. HISPANIC AND LATIN AMERICAN OPERATIONSCompany Acquires Bi-lingual Hispanic Grupo Teleinter and Opens Additional Bi-lingual Hispanic Contact CenterNEWTOWN, PA, NOVEMBER 20, 2002 — ICT GROUP, INC. (NASDAQ: ICTG), a leading global provider of customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, announced today that is has expanded its U.S. Hispanic and Latin American operations by acquiring the assets of Grupo Teleinter, S.A. de C.V., and opening a new contact center in Nogales, Arizona.The acquisition of Grupo Teleinter, which provides inbound and outbound sales and customer service support for major companies across Mexico, strengthens ICT GROUP’s U.S. Hispanic and Latin American customer sales and service capabilities as well as provides the Company with an entrée into Mexico, Latin America and South America. Furthermore, it establishes a foundation for ICT GROUP’s future international expansion into these regions. “We are excited about the additional opportunities and increased operating capacity this strategic acquisition offers,” stated John J. Brennan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ICT GROUP. “Leveraging Grupo Teleinter’s market presence in Mexico, we are now better positioned to further expand our international footprint in this region as well as provide clients with additional high-quality, cost-effective U.S. Hispanic and Latin American sales and service solutions.” Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, ICT GROUP has absorbed Grupo Teleinter’s 100+ seat contact center operation in Mexico City, using it to provide specialized in- language customer sales and service support in Mexico for Mexican and multinational clients. The venture will also be capable of supporting Hispanic customers in the U.S. and other Latin/South American countries. The operation will be merged into ICT GROUP’s International Services division, as part of ICT Spantel, supporting the Company’s worldwide expansion strategy and strengthening its international sales and service capabilities. ICT GROUP also announced that it is opening a new contact center in Nogales, AZ, further expanding its bi-lingual English/Spanish capabilities and augmenting its existing ICT Spantel operation in Miami, FL. Located south of Tucson, AZ, near the Mexican border, the Nogales center will be equipped with 120 agent workstations and staffed by up to 200 customer sales and service representatives, when operating at full capacity. “The Nogales center is the Company’s third facility dedicated to expanding clients’ reach into the very large and rapidly growing Hispanic market, providing them with highly targeted, efficient in-language support services for a variety of business and consumer applications,” said M. Jack Kerins, President of ICT International Services. ICT GROUP, headquartered in Newtown, Pa., is a leading global provider of integrated customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. The Company helps clients identify, acquire, retain, service, measure and maximize the lifetime value of their customer relationships. The Company manages CRM service operations in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Australia, Mexico and the Caribbean from which it supports domestic and multinational corporations and institutions, primarily in the financial, insurance, telecommunications, healthcare, information technology, media and energy services industries. ICT GROUP also offers a full suite of hosted CRM solutions, for use by clients at their own in-house facility or on a co-sourced basis in conjunction with ICT GROUP’s fully compatible Web-enabled customer service operations. To learn more about ICT GROUP, visit the Company’s website at www.ictgroup.com. Important Cautionary Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, such as plans to expand into new international markets and to increase capacity, ability to maintain growth momentum, expected demand for services, ability to migrate operations to lower cost centers and ability to transition business to faster growing operations. The forward-looking statements involve assumptions and are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. Whenever possible, forward-looking statements are preceded by, followed by or include the words "believes," "expects," "anticipates" or similar expressions, which speak only as of the date the statement is made. ICT GROUP assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. For such statements, ICT GROUP claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual events or results of operations, cash flows and financial condition of ICT GROUP may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including without limitation, those discussed in ICT GROUP's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001, the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2002 and other documents, such as reports on Form 8-K and other reports on Form 10-Q filed by ICT GROUP with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although ICT GROUP believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from ICT GROUP's expectations, or that could materially and adversely affect ICT GROUP’s financial condition, may include, but are not limited to the following, many of which are outside ICT GROUP's control: demand for ICT GROUP’s services, the cost to defend or settle litigation against ICT GROUP, judgments, orders, rulings and other developments in litigation against ICT GROUP, unanticipated labor difficulties, ICT GROUP’s capital and financing needs (including the incurrence of significant expenses of a planned offering of common stock if the offering is abandoned), ICT GROUP’s ability to integrate acquired businesses, customer demand for a client's product, the client's budgets and plans, interest rates and other conditions affecting the client's industry, unanticipated contract or technical difficulties, identifying and opening planned contact centers within timeframes necessary to meet client demands, reliance on strategic partners, industry and government regulation, reliance on telecommunications and computer technology, general and local economic conditions, and competitive pressures in ICT GROUP's industry. These factors, as well as others, such as conditions in the securities markets and actual or perceived results or developments affecting companies in our industry, could affect the trading price of our common stock. Editorial Contact: Jackie Amendolari ICT Group, Inc. 267-685-5018 jamendolari@ictgroup.com top of page |
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