The Following is the actual transcript of CVG's CEO, Mr. James Orr, interview on CNBC, courtesy of the closed caption/save to text file geewhiz on my computer's TV hardcard add-on.
BTW, Initial trade 1.4Mil shares, up 3/4 on the Opening
** External Video Session started on **
** Time => 06:02:29 Date => 08/13/98 **
but next, meet the CEO of Cincinnati Bell spin-off,
Convergys! "Squawk box" will be right back.<commercial break>
>>
RON Insana: Cincinatti Bell spin-off, Convergys is primed for a
big day of the company rolls on to wall street this morning
offering 13 million common shares priced at $15 apiece,
Though the price and size of offering have been cut back.
Leading provider of outsource billing and management
solutions is set under the ticker symbol, CVG on the NYSE
Thanks for being with us today, Mr. James Orr.
CEO: Thanks, Ron. Good to see you.
>>.
Ron: What forced to you to...everybody expected you to come
public yesterday. Market conditions not as favorable as you might
have expected?
CEO >> Well, I think there were none that went public yesterday.
And I think what we've experienced is the same thing that many in
market have experienced.
Frankly, we are very delighted to have been able to make an
initial public offering of this size, which according to the
underwriters is the largest public offering completed in the
month of August.
Ron: All right. Now, tell us a little bit about your business.
Why would an investor want to own your stock?
CEO:>> I think we've got a great growth record. Over the past
three years '94 through '97, we've grown revenues 24% on a
compound annual growth rate of 48%.
We think our prospects going forward in the industries that
we serve are good. We are focused on the communications business
as well as other high-growth businesses in helping our clients
manage their customers and compete effectively.
Guest Moneyfund Mgr--Mullenkamp:>> What are you looking for?
Where...What are you focusing on? Growing the business or
reporting both top line and revenues and ebitda? What's your
focus?
CEO>> Our focus is on growing both our revenues and our
earnings.
Ron: How are you going to do that?
CEO:>> We're going to do that partly because we're in a
growth industry. We also expect not only that wireless
subscribers, which is an important part of our market will
continue to grow, but that we'll be able to expand into other
markets and grow our business there.(EDITORIAL NOTE: when reading
phrase: other markets, please read into that Cable TV back room
billing a/w/a note their recent successful expansion globally into
backroom billing contracts overseas.)
Ron: The back-office part of the communications business is
not really one we've talked about quite frequently in our
programs. It's more staid than some of the hotter technology
aspects of the business. Is your business consolidating
significantly? If so, do you expect to be a buyer or a
seller of properties in the future?
CEO>> Certainly our history has been to be a buyer of properties.
We've made 25 acquisitions the past 13 years. And that has helped
fuel the growth of the two companies,--CBIS, MATRIXX, which will
form Convergys. We've integrated those companies pretty well and
aligned them against our strategy and managed to grow the
profitability of those businesses.
I would expect as opportunities present themselves, we could
be an acquiror in future of other businesses, but certainly
expect to continue to build our share.
Ron: Would you be more inclined to use stock, cash or debt in any
future acquisitions?
CEO>> Certainly, those kinds of financing decisions are typically
based on the value of your equity.
If our value -- if our equity's properly valued in
marketplace, then that equity might well be a good option to
use.
Mullenkamp: What kind of financial "hurdles" do you use? Do you use return on equity or discount of cash flow? And, what rate should we expect to see from your business?
CEO:>> I'm not going to try to predict the future growth
rates of the business, but we certainly have goals that are
in line with our past performance. We expect to deliver superior
shareholder return with our focus on growing revenues certainly
in double-digits; and our EPS faster than our revenues.
Ron: Good to see you, thanks for joining us. Congratulations.
CEO >> Thank you very much.
Ron: James Orr, Ceo of today's IPO, Convergys, joining us live
from Cincinatti, Ohio.
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** time => 06:14:45 date => 08/13/98 ** |
