ENGLEWOOD, CO, Feb 20, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX News Network) -- TeleTech Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTEC) today said that its Audit
Committee has completed its review of historical equity-based
compensation practices.
The Audit Committee initiated the review in September 2007 upon
management's recommendation immediately following the discovery by
the Company's legal department of errors in certain equity
compensation awards (the "Review"). Although the Review concluded
that there was no willful misconduct and no evidence of improper
conduct by any current member of senior management (including the
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and the Vice Chairman), the
Audit Committee did make certain findings and recommendations, which
are described in more detail in the current report on Form 8-K filed
today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In connection with the Review, the Company's Audit Committee, with
the assistance of independent legal counsel and forensic accounting
experts, reviewed approximately 4,246 equity based awards to
individuals during the period from the Company's IPO in 1996 through
August 2007. The Audit Committee and outside consultants have
reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents and electronic records
and conducted 33 interviews with current and former employees,
officers and directors.
The findings include:
-
There was no willful misconduct in connection with the Company's
equity compensation granting practices.
- There was no evidence of improper conduct by the current Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer, the current Vice Chairman, any other current
member of senior management, any past or present member of the Compensation
Committee, or any other outside director.
- There was no regular or systematic practice of using hindsight to
select grant dates and no pattern of hitting "lows."
"As a result of the comprehensive review of our historical
equity-based compensation practices, it appears that most of the
errors in the granting process occurred prior to 2002 and that these
errors did not result from willful misconduct," said Kenneth Tuchman,
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Our Board and management are
committed to transparency and compliance. We believe that
implementing 'best practices' in equity compensation and corporate
governance processes will address the errors that led to these
accounting issues."
ABOUT TELETECH
TeleTech is one of the largest and most geographically diverse global
providers of business process outsourcing solutions. We have a
26-year history of designing, implementing, and managing critical
business processes for Global 1000 companies to help them improve
their customers' experience, expand their strategic capabilities, and
increase their operating efficiencies. By delivering a high-quality
customer experience through the effective integration of
customer-facing front-office processes with internal back-office
processes, we enable our clients to better serve, grow, and retain
their customer base. We use Six Sigma-based quality methods
continually to design, implement, and enhance the business processes
we deliver to our clients and we also apply this methodology to our
own internal operations. We have developed deep domain expertise and
support approximately 300 business process outsourcing programs
serving more than 100 global clients in the automotive,
communications, financial services, government, healthcare, retail,
technology and travel and leisure industries. Our integrated global
solutions are provided by more than 55,000 employees utilizing some
40,000 workstations across 90 delivery centers in 19 countries.
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, which can be identified by words such as "may," "will,"
"expect," "anticipate" or comparable words. These forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors that may cause our actual results, performance, or
achievements to be materially different from any future results,
performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the
forward-looking statements. All statements not based on historical
fact are forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks
and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause our actual
results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements, include but are not limited to the
following: all reported results are presented without taking into
account any adjustments that may be required in connection with the
ongoing review of TeleTech's accounting for equity-based compensation
plans and should be considered preliminary until TeleTech files its
Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007; the effect of
TeleTech's failure to timely file all of its required reports under
the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, including the potential of a
default under its credit facility; our ability to meet the
requirements of the NASDAQ Stock Market for continued listing of our
shares; the pending decision of the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications
Panel regarding continued listing of TeleTech's common shares;
potential claims and proceedings relating to such matters, including
shareholder litigation and action by the SEC and/or other
governmental agencies; negative tax or other implications for
TeleTech resulting from any accounting adjustments or other factors;
our belief that we are continuing to see strong demand for our
services; the ability to close and ramp new business opportunities
that are currently being pursued or that are in the final stages with
existing and/or potential clients in order to achieve our Business
Outlook; estimated revenue from new, renewed, and expanded client
business as volumes may not materialize as forecasted or be
sufficient to achieve our Business Outlook; the possibility of lower
revenue or price pressure from our clients experiencing a business
downturn or merger in their business; greater than anticipated
competition in the BPO and customer management markets, causing
adverse pricing and more stringent contractual terms; risks
associated with losing or not renewing client relationships,
particularly large client agreements, or early termination of a
client agreement; the risk of losing clients due to consolidation in
the industries we serve; consumers' concerns or adverse publicity
regarding our clients' products; our ability to execute our growth
plans, including sales of new services; our ability to achieve our
year-end 2007 and 2008 financial goals, including those set forth in
our Business Outlook; risks associated with attracting and retaining
cost-effective labor at our delivery centers; the possibility of
additional asset impairments and restructuring charges; risks
associated with changes in foreign currency exchange rates; our
ability to find cost effective delivery locations, obtain favorable
lease terms, and build or retrofit facilities in a timely and
economic manner; risks associated with business interruption due to
weather, pandemic or terrorist-related events; economic or political
changes affecting the countries in which we operate; achieving
continued profit improvement in our International BPO operations;
changes in accounting policies and practices promulgated by standard
setting bodies; and new legislation or government regulation that
impacts the BPO and customer management industry.
Investor Contact:
Karen Breen
303-397-8592
Jennifer Martin
303-397-8634
Media Contact:
Paul Kranhold
415-618-8750
Email Contact
