The Irish arm of call centre giant Telus, formerly known as Voxpro, returned to profit in 2020 as turnover remained stable.
Telus International Ireland recorded pretax profits of €3.7 million in 2020, after reporting a €6.3 million loss the prior year. Revenues slipped to €80.8 million from €81.8 million as the cost of sales declined from €54.8 million to €51.2 million.
Shareholders’ deficit fell 35 per cent in 2020 to €10.4 million to €6.7 million as the number of employees fell 5.9 per cent to 1,973.
Telus, which is headquartered in Vancouver, acquired Voxpro from founders Dan and Linda Kiely in a deal valued at up to $150 million in two tranches, completing the takeover in late 2019 before rebranding the business.
Founded above a pub in Cork in 1995, Voxpro offered customer experience, technical support and sales operations solutions to international customers that included Google and Airbnb.
The Kielys departed the business after Telus bought the remaining stake in Voxpro that it didn’t own in 2019. It initially acquired a 55 per cent shareholding in the business in August 2016 for $58 million.
Dan and Linda Kiely have used some of the money they earned from the sale of the business to back a number of Irish companies, including Talivest, Snack Farm, Abodoo, Republic of Work and Vudini, which Mr Kiely co-founded.
