- Reduced Outstanding Debt by Nearly 60% Over Last Four Months -

- Authorized $20 Million Share Repurchase Program -

Startek, Inc. (NYSE:SRT) ("Startek" or the "Company"), a global customer experience (CX) solutions provider, is reporting financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. As a result of current and planned divestitures, the Company has classified Middle East and Argentina operations as 'Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations'. Accordingly net revenue, gross profit, gross margin, SG&A expenses and adjusted EBITDA are reported for the continuing operations and net income, EPS, adjusted net income/(loss) and adjusted EPS are reported after consolidating continuing and discontinued operations.

First Quarter 2023 Financial Summary ($ in millions, excl. margin items)

[1] Reflects net income (loss) and EPS attributable to Startek shareholders.

[2] Reflects Adjusted net income and adjusted EPS attributable to Startek shareholders.

[3] Refer to the reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP financial measures.

Management Commentary

“Throughout the quarter, we made significant progress towards de-leveraging our balance sheet, expanding our pipeline and adding new clients, primarily in our e-commerce and BFSI verticals,” said Bharat Rao, Global CEO of Startek. “As we continued to execute on our sales initiatives, we secured five new customer logos and expanded business lines with seven existing customers. Building on the successful digital initiatives and proof-of-concepts, we have been able to ramp clients into these new services and exceed their expectations at a newfound pace. These successful initiatives have generated positive sentiment throughout our customer base and helped in building the momentum as we continue to expand our pipeline.

“Over the last four months, we have paid down nearly 60% of our outstanding debt and reworked our repayment schedule to free up near-term cash flow for investments in growth. As part of our ongoing capital allocation strategy, we used the proceeds from the sale of our interest in Contact Center Company (“CCC”) to prepay $55 million in debt and authorized a $20 million dollar share repurchase program to capitalize on a meaningfully improved balance sheet. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, we also introduced a new visual identity to underscore Startek's commitment to combining data insights and customer service experience. By achieving these objectives, we believe we have built a strong foundation for Startek, enabling us to focus more on operating our core business and delivering the best customer experience to our clients.

“The work we've done over the last several quarters to deleverage our balance sheet, stabilize margins through proactive pricing adjustments, and bolster our technology to increase agent efficiency has paid off. Our investments in digital, IT and security have been predominantly deployed, and we do not anticipate the need for any significant incremental investments for the time being. Recently, we received recognition from the Business Intelligence Group as the Outsource Partner of the Year at the 2023 Excellence in Customer Service Awards and won the Bronze Stevie Award in the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards for our work in aiding clients in overcoming challenging customer experience scenarios. As always, we are proud to be continually recognized for providing an unparalleled customer experience.

“Going forward, we will continue to focus on enhancing our operations across our core business segments and targeting key geographies that support profitability and growth. Overall, we feel that we have built a strong foundation for our ongoing business to provide a best-in-class customer experience. We remain committed to delivering sustainable growth and prioritizing the long-term health of the Company, and we look forward to continuing to execute our strategic growth roadmap and returning value to our shareholders.”

First Quarter 2023 Financial Summary

Net revenue in the first quarter was $92.09 million compared to $101.09 million in the year-ago quarter. The decrease was primarily due to ramp down of a cable & media client in the previous year, softness with a client in the hyper scale space and foreign currency movement, offset by a healthy performance across the Company’s ecommerce and banking, financial services and insurance (“BFSI”) verticals. On a constant currency basis, net revenue decreased 4.41% compared to the year-ago quarter.

Gross profit in the first quarter decreased by 6.02% to $12.96 million compared to $13.79 million in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin improved 43 basis points to 14.07% compared to 13.64% in the year-ago quarter. The increase in gross margin is primarily attributable to proactive pricing adjustments, a higher portion of service delivered near-shore and offshore, and less pressure from inflation on wage costs during the period.

Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses in the first quarter decreased to $10.29 million compared to $11.96 million in the year-ago quarter. As a percentage of revenue, SG&A decreased to 11.17% compared to 11.83% in the year-ago quarter. The decrease in SG&A expenses is due to the inclusion of certain one-time costs in the prior period. Adjusting for this, the SG&A expense during this quarter remained flat relative to the prior period.

Adjusted EBITDA* in the first quarter was $8.29 million compared to $8.95 million in the year-ago quarter. The decrease in adjusted EBITDA is primarily attributable to the aforementioned decrease in net revenue, as well as currency exchange losses during the period.

Net income (loss) attributable to Startek shareholders in the first quarter was $(0.67) million or $(0.01) per share, compared to a net income of $(1.24) million or $(0.03) per share in the year-ago quarter. This represents income (loss) attributable to Startek shareholders from continuing operations of $(0.56) million in Q1 2023 and $(0.77) million in Q1 2022, along with income (loss) attributable to Startek shareholders from discontinued operations of $(0.11) million in Q1 2023 and $(0.47) million in Q1 2022.

Adjusted net income* in the first quarter was $3.18 million or $0.08 per diluted share, compared to an adjusted net income* of $3.34 million or $0.08 per diluted share in the year-ago quarter. This represents adjusted net income (loss) from continuing operations of $2.23 million in Q1 2023 and $2.76 million in Q1 2022, along with adjusted net income (loss) from discontinued operations of $0.95 million in Q1 2023 and $0.58 million in Q1 2022.

On March 31, 2023, cash and restricted cash was $24.94 million[1] compared to $72.40 million as at December 31, 2022. The decrease in cash balance was driven by the utilization of $41 million in proceeds received from the Company’s divesture in CSS, to prepay debt. Total debt as at March 31, 2023, was $130.67 million compared to $175.91 million as at December 31, 2022, and net debt as at March 31, 2023, was $105.73 million[2] compared to $103.51 million as at December 31, 2022.

During the three months ended March 31, 2023, the Company had not repurchased common stock under our repurchase plan.

*A non-GAAP measure defined below.

Conference Call and Webcast Details

Startek management will host the call, followed by a question-and-answer period.

Date: Thursday, May 11, 2023

Time: 5 p.m. ET

Toll-free dial-in number: 1-844-826-3035

International dial-in number: 1-412-317-5195

Conference ID: 10178216

Please call the conference telephone number 5-10 minutes prior to the start time. An operator will register your name and organization. If you have any difficulty connecting with the conference call, please contact Gateway Group, Inc. at 1-949-574-3860.

The conference call will be broadcast live and available for replay here, as well as in the investor relations section of the company’s website at www.startek.com. A telephonic replay of the conference call will also be available after 8 p.m. ET on the same day through May 18, 2023.

Toll-free replay number: 1-844-512-2921

International replay number: 1-412-317-6671

Replay ID: 10178216

[1] Cash balance excluding restricted cash as at March 31, 2023 amounted to $15.77 million as compared to $22.46 million as at December 31, 2022. Restricted cash of $49.95 million in the period ended December 31, 2022, included $41 million which was received from the net proceeds of CSS Redemption that was utilized to prepay debt in January 2023.

[2] Net debt excluding restricted cash balance at March 31, 2023 was $114.90 million compared to $153.45 million at December 31, 2022.

About Startek

Startek is a leading global provider of technology-enabled customer experience (CX) solutions. The Company provides omnichannel CX, digital transformation, and technology services to some of the world’s leading brands. Startek is committed to impacting clients’ business outcomes by focusing on enhancing CX and digital enablement across all touch points and channels. Startek has more than 32,000 employees delivering services in 11 countries. The Company services over 140 clients across a range of industries such as banking and financial services, insurance, technology, telecoms, healthcare, travel and hospitality, consumer goods, retail and energy and utilities. To learn more, visit www.startek.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

The matters regarding the future discussed in this news release include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are intended to be identified in this document by the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “objective,” “outlook,” “plan,” “project,” “possible,” “potential,” “should” and similar expressions. As described below, such statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause Startek's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by any such forward-looking statements. Readers are encouraged to review risk factors and all other disclosures appearing in the Company's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 28, 2023, as well as other filings with the SEC, for further information on risks and uncertainties that could affect Startek's business, financial condition and results of operation. Copies of these filings are available from the SEC, the Company’s website or the Company’s investor relations department. Startek assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date herein.

STARTEK, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP MEASURE

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)

This press release contains references to the non-GAAP financial measure of Adjusted EBITDA. Reconciliation of this non-GAAP measure to its comparable GAAP measure is included below. This non-GAAP information should not be construed as an alternative to the reported results determined in accordance with GAAP. It is provided solely to assist in an investor’s understanding of these items on the comparability of the Company’s operations.

Adjusted EBITDA:

The Company defines non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA as Net income (loss) plus Income tax expense, Share of income (loss) of equity-accounted investees, Interest expense and other income (expense), net, Depreciation and amortization expense, Impairment losses and restructuring cost, Share-based compensation expense, Foreign exchange gains (losses), net, Private offer transaction costs, Transaction related costs, CSS option amortization and other non-recurring costs (if applicable). Management uses Adjusted EBITDA as a performance measure to analyze the performance of our business. Management believes that excluding these non-cash and other non-recurring items permits a more meaningful comparison and understanding of our strength and performance of our ongoing operations for our investors and analysts.

Adjusted EPS:

Adjusted EPS is a non-GAAP financial measure presenting the earnings generated by the ongoing operations that we believe are useful to investors in making meaningful comparisons to other companies, although our measure of Adjusted EPS may not be directly comparable to similar measures used by other companies, and period-over-period comparisons. Adjusted EPS is defined as our diluted earnings per common share attributable to Startek shareholders adjusted to exclude the effects of the amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, and the impact of certain events, gains, losses or other charges that affect period-over-period comparisons. Acquisition-related intangible assets are recognized as a result of the application of Accounting Standards Codification Topic (“ASC”) 805, Business Combinations (such as customer relationships and Brand), and their amortization is significantly affected by the size and timing of our acquisitions.

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