Ibex touts AI solutions to grow market share
IBEX Limited has begun to reap the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions as it adds new AI agents and solutions to grow its business which reported a 15 per cent rise in revenue to US$644.10 million ($101.57 billion).
The business process outsourcing (BPO) company launched the Wave iX platform in January 2024 to redefine customer and employee engagement while augmenting insights across the value chain for its operations.
Since then, Ibex has expanded its AI partnerships with Sierra, a conversational AI platform, to deepen its customer relationships while expanding the scale and efficiency of its operations.
It recently won an AI agent partnership with Philippine Airlines, its existing client, which was fully deployed within the last couple of months in conjunction with Sierra. The proof-of-concept stage saw the solution launched in English, Tagalog, and Taglish, and achieved a customer satisfaction score (CSAT) of 4.71 out of 5.0. Although the resolution rate was 24 per cent, the solution has not cannibalised its revenue and allowed for it to take market share from competitors on the human agent side.
“During fiscal year 2026 these AI-enabled offerings progressed from an emerging growth vector to becoming a more meaningful contributor to our results, supporting both new client wins and expansion within our embedded base. We grew in both our onshore and offshore regions throughout the year,” said Taylor Greenwald, Ibex’s chief financial officer (CFO), on the company’s September 10 earnings call.
Ibex highlighted that it was able to onboard BJ’s Wholesale Club through its AI solution, and not with the traditional BPO approach. The solution, launched in June, was able to deliver resolution rates above 40 per cent and give a CSAT of 4.74 out of 5.00. These results were better than BJ’s legacy BPO vendor, which allowed it to acquire BJ’s and move to launch traditional human agents in the first half of the June 2027 financial year (FY).
The use of AI agent solutions has also benefited Ibex by allowing it to move customers from a traditional interactive voice response (IVR) and converting them into incremental sales opportunities for its human agents. The partnership with Sierra also resulted in Ibex securing a luxury activewear brand which will be supported by AI solutions and human-agent support.
This forms part of the company’s move from BPO 2.0, which was simply focused on improving a brand and customer loyalty, to BPO 3.0 which involves AI-powered solutions across the customer journey and traditional human support for clients.
“Importantly, we have now turned the perceived threat of AI for BPOs into an important growth opportunity for Ibex. The result is a business that is strategically built for today and tomorrow,” said Ibex Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Robert “Bob” Dechant on the earnings call.
Ibex’s top-line earnings improved due to the company’s ability to move across various segments across several geographies. This included the company’s health tech vertical rising by US$31.7 million; the retail and e-commerce vertical by US$20.5 million; and travel, transportation and logistics vertical by US$13.3 million for the June 2026 financial year (FY).
Despite the top-line improvement, Ibex’s operating expenses increased by 15 per cent to US$589.11 million due to higher training expenses, relocation costs, and higher fuel prices in its offshore segment. The operating profit improved by 18 per cent to US$54.96 million but the adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) was up 14 per cent to US$82.37 million.
Ibex’s consolidated net profit grew 26 per cent to US$46.33 million, with earnings per share (EPS) of US$3.45. It beat analyst estimates for revenue and EPS for the fourth quarter.
Ibex’s asset base increased 13 per cent to US$309.14 million, with US$129.50 million in non-current assets. It generated a record US$31.19 million in free cash flow and ended the year with cash of US$32.57 million. Ibex’s equity base grew 27 per cent to US$170.23 million.
Following its latest results, Ibex is projecting that its revenue for the June 2027 FY should be between US$700 million to US$715 million — a nine to 11 per cent improvement over the June 2026 FY. It is also projecting that its adjusted EBITDA will be between US$90 million to US$94 million, with capital expenditure of US$25 million to US$30 million.
Ibex repurchased US$14.4 million worth of its shares for its June 2026 FY and had US$17.9 million available under its latest share buy-back programme. It had 13,278,634 common shares as of August 31.
Ibex’s share price closed Tuesday at US$40.26, which leaves it up 10 per cent year to date with a market capitalisation of US$534.66 million.