Cuộc họp công bố kết quả kinh doanh quý 4 và cả năm tài chính 2026 của IBEX: Tăng trưởng AI và triển vọng năm tài chính 2027

Thông tin trọng tâm

• Doanh thu quý 4 năm tài chính 2026 tăng 12% so với cùng kỳ năm trước lên mức kỷ lục 164,3 triệu USD, đánh dấu quý thứ sáu liên tiếp IBEX đạt mức tăng trưởng doanh thu hai chữ số.
• Doanh thu năm tài chính 2026 tăng 15,4% lên 644,1 triệu USD. EPS pha loãng theo GAAP tăng 32,8% lên 3,13 USD, trong khi EPS điều chỉnh tăng 28% lên 3,52 USD.
• Công nghệ Y tế tiếp tục là mảng tăng trưởng nhanh nhất, với doanh thu quý 4 tăng 42% lên 29,4 triệu USD và doanh thu cả năm tăng 38% lên 114 triệu USD, vượt mục tiêu 100 triệu USD của ban quản lý.
• IBEX đã giành được 9 khách hàng lớn mới trong quý 4 và 17 khách hàng trong cả năm tài chính 2026. Tỷ lệ duy trì doanh thu và tỷ lệ duy trì khách hàng đều đạt trên 99%, trong khi chỉ số hài lòng của khách hàng đạt 71.
• Ban quản lý cho biết các dịch vụ tích hợp AI đã trở thành yếu tố đóng góp tăng trưởng rõ nét hơn. IBEX đã triển khai tác tử AI ở mức hai chữ số trên 5 mảng ngành, bao gồm các hợp đồng triển khai với Philippine Airlines và BJ’s Wholesale.
• Đối với năm tài chính 2027, ban quản lý dự báo doanh thu đạt từ 700 triệu USD đến 715 triệu USD và EBITDA điều chỉnh đạt từ 90 triệu USD đến 94 triệu USD.

Dữ liệu tài chính chính

IBEX kết thúc quý 4 năm tài chính với 32,6 triệu USD tiền mặt và 1,7 triệu USD nợ vay, mang lại số dư tiền mặt ròng là 30,9 triệu USD. Chi phí đầu tư vốn trong năm tài chính 2026 là 27,8 triệu USD, tương đương 4,3% doanh thu.

Kết quả hoạt động kinh doanh

Doanh thu mảng Công nghệ Y tế tăng 42% trong quý 4 và chiếm 17,9% doanh thu quý. Mảng Công nghệ tăng 27%, Du lịch, Vận tải và Logistics tăng 18%, và Bán lẻ & Thương mại điện tử tăng 7%. Doanh thu mảng FinTech tăng 3%, trong khi mảng Viễn thông giảm xuống còn 9,4% doanh thu từ mức 10,9% do sản lượng từ các nhà mạng truyền thống giảm.

Doanh thu nội địa (Onshore) tăng 15% trong quý 4, nhờ các khách hàng mới triển khai gần đây và mảng Công nghệ Y tế có biên lợi nhuận cao hơn. Doanh thu hải ngoại (Offshore) tăng 14% và chiếm 50% tổng doanh thu. Doanh thu khu vực lân cận (Nearshore) tăng 2%.

Dịch vụ kỹ thuật số và đa kênh tăng 12% và chiếm 82% doanh thu quý 4. Ban quản lý cho rằng sự dịch chuyển cơ cấu này là nhờ đóng góp ngày càng tăng từ các giải pháp kỹ thuật số và tích hợp AI.

Mức độ tập trung khách hàng tiếp tục giảm. Khách hàng lớn nhất chiếm 9% doanh thu quý 4, trong khi top 5, top 10 và top 25 khách hàng lần lượt chiếm 33%, 53% và 75%. Doanh thu từ top 5, top 10 và top 25 khách hàng tăng lần lượt 24%, 22% và 15% trong cả năm.

IBEX đã nhấn mạnh bốn mô hình triển khai liên quan đến AI. Thử nghiệm kiểm chứng mô hình (proof of concept) của Philippine Airlines đã sử dụng tiếng Anh, tiếng Tagalog và tiếng Taglish, mang lại tỷ lệ giải quyết vấn đề trên 20% và điểm hài lòng của khách hàng trên 4,7/5,0. BJ’s Wholesale đạt tỷ lệ giải quyết vấn đề trên 40% và điểm hài lòng của khách hàng trên 4,7. Ban quản lý cho biết các đợt triển khai này đang tạo ra tăng trưởng bổ sung thay vì làm suy giảm doanh thu hiện có.

Dự báo của ban quản lý

Ban quản lý dự kiến chi phí đầu tư vốn năm tài chính 2027 từ 25 triệu USD đến 30 triệu USD. Công ty cũng kỳ vọng biên EBITDA điều chỉnh sẽ tiếp tục mở rộng trong quý 1 năm tài chính 2027 và cho biết thuế suất chuẩn hóa từ 20% đến 22% là phù hợp trong tương lai.

Rủi ro và các yếu tố cần theo dõi

Lợi nhuận quý 4 năm tài chính chịu áp lực từ chi phí đào tạo liên quan đến việc ký kết hợp đồng với các khách hàng mới, tác động tạm thời từ việc chuyển giao công việc từ các trung tâm giao dịch lân cận (nearshore) sang hải ngoại (offshore), cùng với giá nhiên liệu cao hơn làm tăng chi phí tiện ích và vận chuyển. Kết quả theo GAAP cũng bao gồm 2 triệu USD chi phí lỗ do chấm dứt hợp đồng thuê và trợ cấp nghỉ việc, cùng với các khoản lỗ do suy giảm giá trị và lãi từ thanh lý tài sản.

Ban quản lý lưu ý rằng các giải pháp tác tử AI có thể gặp khó khăn trong việc tạo ra lợi nhuận thỏa đáng hoặc các tương tác chất lượng cao. IBEX đang nỗ lực giải quyết những hạn chế đó thông qua quan hệ đối tác với Sierra AI, nhưng hiệu quả triển khai liên tục và mức độ chấp nhận của khách hàng vẫn là các khía cạnh quan trọng cần theo dõi.

Các yếu tố vận hành khác cần lưu ý bao gồm sản lượng sụt giảm từ các khách hàng Viễn thông truyền thống, chi tiêu vốn tăng nhằm hỗ trợ mở rộng hoạt động hải ngoại (offshore), và thuế suất chuẩn hóa cao hơn sau khi được hưởng lợi từ các khoản thuế riêng lẻ trong năm tài chính 2026.

Nội dung trọng tâm phiên Hỏi & Đáp với nhà phân tích

Các nhà phân tích tập trung vào câu hỏi liệu AI đã đóng góp vào tăng trưởng hay chưa và liệu công nghệ này có thể thúc đẩy doanh thu tăng tốc hơn nữa hay không. CEO Robert Dechant cho biết quan hệ đối tác với Sierra AI đã củng cố sự biệt lập cạnh tranh của IBEX và rút ngắn lộ trình từ thử nghiệm kiểm chứng mô hình đến triển khai quy mô lớn. Ông lưu ý rằng các tác tử AI có thể xử lý từ 20% đến 40% khối lượng công việc của doanh nghiệp nhanh hơn nhiều so với việc tuyển dụng và đào tạo lực lượng tư vấn viên con người tương đương.

Về tăng trưởng theo mảng ngành, ban quản lý nhận định Công nghệ Y tế là cơ hội lớn trong năm tài chính 2027, được thúc đẩy bởi nhu cầu từ các bên chi trả lớn và các đơn vị cung cấp dịch vụ y tế chuyên khoa. Công ty cũng đề cập đến các hợp đồng khách hàng mới, việc gia tăng thị phần trong mảng thương mại điện tử, các thị trường cung ứng dịch vụ chi phí thấp như Pakistan, và sự mở rộng nhờ ứng dụng AI trong ngành du lịch và vận tải.

CFO Taylor Greenwald cho biết các nhà đầu tư nên áp dụng mức thuế suất từ 20% đến 22% cho mục đích xây dựng mô hình tài chính, do mức thuế suất thấp hơn trong quý 4 đã được hưởng lợi từ các khoản thuế riêng lẻ, bao gồm việc giải quyết thuận lợi một vấn đề về thuế.

Toàn văn biên bản cuộc họp kết quả kinh doanh

Toàn văn cuộc gọi công bố kết quả kinh doanh

Phần trình bày của ban lãnh đạo

Operator

Hello, and welcome to ibex Fourth Quarter Full Year 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] To note, there is an accompanying presentation available on the ibex Investor Relations website at investors.ibex.co.

I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Greg Bradbury, Investor Relations for ibex. Sir, you may begin.

Greg Bradbury

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us today. Before we begin, I want to remind you that matters discussed on today's call may include forward-looking statements related to our operating performance, financial goals, and business outlook, which are based on management's current beliefs and assumptions. Please note that these forward-looking statements reflect our opinion as of the date of this call, and we undertake no obligation to revise this information as a result of new developments which may occur.

Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expected and described today. For a more detailed description of our risk factors, please review our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 10, 2026, and any other risk factors we include in the subsequent filings with the SEC.

With that, I will now turn the call over to ibex CEO, Bob Dechant.

Robert Dechant

Thanks, Greg. Good afternoon and thank you all for joining us today as we review our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2026 results. I am pleased to report that our fourth quarter marked another period of outperformance, continuing the momentum we have built throughout fiscal 2026, as we further expanded our differentiation while creating additional separation between ibex and the rest of the traditional BPO market.

We delivered record fourth quarter revenue, growing 12% to $164.3 million, bringing our full-year organic revenue growth to 15%, or $644.1 million. We also did this while generating full-year records for adjusted EBITDA, EPS, adjusted EPS, operating cash flow, and free cash flow. The quarter also marked our sixth straight quarter of double-digit revenue growth. These results demonstrate the strength of ibex and the separation we have from the competition. We have created a powerful flywheel that enables us to consistently outperform the market.

It starts with our differentiation and proven track record, which enables us to win trophy new logo clients across key verticals. We then operationally outperform our competition, allowing us to rapidly take significant market share. As a result, we have built a business with best-in-class client retention rates. The proof points of our flywheel are clear. In the fourth quarter, our new logo engine accelerated considerably. During the period, we added nine new trophy logos, bringing our annual total to 17 wins across multiple verticals and geographies. For the year, revenue from our top five, top 10, and top 25 clients grew 24%, 22%, and 15%, respectively.

This growth represents market share we are taking from our competitors. I am proud to report that ibex was named Partner of the Year by three different Fortune 500 companies, all of which are top 10 clients, highlighting that our clients clearly recognize the impact of our solutions on their business outcomes.

In fiscal year 2026, we recorded revenue and client retention rates north of 99%, indicating our ability to deliver not just for a select few clients, but across our client base. Additionally, our client Net Promoter Score remains world-class at 71. While our financial results already underscore this point, it is another strong validation that our clients remain incredibly supportive of the work we are doing. On the topic of growth, earlier this year we announced our target of growing the Health Tech vertical into a $100 million business by the end of the fiscal year. During the fourth quarter, the segment grew 42% to $29.4 million and grew 38% for the full year to $114 million, significantly surpassing the revenue goal we set for the business. What makes that performance especially compelling is that this growth has been built organically and will continue to be one of ibex's most important growth vectors in fiscal year 2027 and beyond.

While Health Tech represents a large and important vertical to us, it also serves as a strong showcase of our proven ability to build and scale new verticals organically across new geographies, further validating our ongoing investment and expansion into additional high-growth markets. One attribute of ibex that I am particularly proud of is our ability to improve as we grow. That applies to our business, our team, and our brand. I am pleased to report that our employee Net Promoter Score increased this year from an already impressive 77 to 82, with a 95% participation rate, putting us in unprecedented territory not only amongst traditional BPO peers, but across all industries. This is an important part of our competitive moat and a foundation for our ability to consistently outperform the competition.

Fiscal year 2026 also marked a transformational step forward in defining a new era of BPO, one powered by AI agents. Our strategic partnership with Sierra AI firmly establishes ibex as a leading provider of AI agents. We bring an integrated solution to market that enables us to deliver both effective AI agent call containment and high levels of customer satisfaction. Many studies, including one by MIT, have highlighted that AI agent solutions often fall short on ROI or deliver poor quality interactions. Our solution is designed to deliver both significant cost savings and high-quality AI-driven interactions. It combines a best-in-class AI agent engine with our best-in-class business insights to create customer journeys that deliver the end.

And we formalized the strategic partnership in late January and announced it publicly in May. In that short period of time, we have achieved tremendous traction across both new and existing clients, demonstrating that our AI strategy is translating into a transformational success for our clients and ibex. The following are four distinct and meaningful case studies that highlight the progress we are making at AI speed. In the first, ibex beat out a pure-play AI technology company, a SaaS technology company, and a traditional multi-billion dollar BPO peer to win and launch an AI agent partnership with Philippine Airlines, an existing ibex client.

We won the proof of concept in Q4 and reached full-scale deployment at the start of fiscal year 2027. During the proof-of-concept phase, ibex launched an AI agent solution in three languages, English, Tagalog, and Taglish, achieved resolution rates above 20% and delivered CSAT above 4.7 out of 5.0, on par with our traditional human agents while our competitors struggled. Importantly, and consistent with our thesis going in, this solution is not cannibalizing our revenues.

As we continue to be a critical partner, we are able to take share from our BPO competitors on the human agent side. This is a significant net win and a strong early proof point of how we intend to win in the evolving BPO 3.0 market. The second example is with BJ's Wholesale, a new trophy client win in which we led with our AI solution, not traditional BPO. We launched in June and achieved impressive results in weeks, not months.

We are attaining resolution rates above 40% and CSAT scores above 4.7 out of 5.0, exceeding the human agent scores delivered by the client's legacy BPO vendor. Based on the outstanding performance and the strength of the partnership we have forged, we now anticipate launching traditional human agents in the first half of fiscal year 2027. This adds another dimension to our powerful land and expand model. We believe BJ's is a great illustration of our ability to lead with AI, deliver meaningful client outcomes, and then win additional business, proving that our AI agent solutions are not merely an ancillary offering, but a leading solution that will drive future growth.

A third example comes from deploying Sierra AI on our digital customer acquisition business. In this case, we are leveraging AI agent solutions we built to take inbound call volume that were previously handled through traditional IVR and converting them into incremental sales opportunities for our human agents. This creates a virtuous cycle. We are easily able to scale to answer all the call volume generated through our own digital marketing efforts, efficiently convert them into additional revenue opportunities, and reinvest in new digital marketing campaigns to further expand this growing business.

The last and fourth example highlights the strength of our partnership. Not only are we winning new business by leading with the ibex Sierra solution, but we are also winning traditional CX business through the partnership. Earlier in the year, Sierra introduced us to a leading luxury activewear brand seeking the right partner to scale human agent support alongside its AI solution as the brand experiences hyper growth. Based on the strength of Sierra's partnership and the trust it had developed with the client, we signed and launched a proof of concept within 30 days. Following our outperformance versus the incumbent vendor, we signed a long-term agreement and are now executing an aggressive ramp.

This is a great example of how our traditional BPO can work and now move at the speed of AI, not BPO. Each of these four solutions are driving incremental growth for ibex. And we currently have double-digit client deployments with our AI agent solution spread across five verticals, creating additional vectors of growth. 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. For many quarters, we have demonstrated our ability to outperform the traditional BPO market on the human agent side of the business.

Now we have created the ability to deliver best-in-class AI agents as well, which gives us confidence in our ability to continue to deliver on our growth trajectory, both near-term and long-term. To summarize, we will look back on fiscal 2026, not only as another banner year across the business, but also as the start of something greater. We began to define the new era of BPO, BPO 3.0, and we are confident in our ability to build on this momentum and solidify ibex's industry leadership position. I firmly believe our business today is stronger than ever, and that we are best positioned for the future. Lastly, I want to thank my team for their tireless efforts in making ibex the best in the industry.

With that, I will now turn the call over to Taylor to go into more detail on our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2026 financial results and guidance. Taylor?

Taylor Greenwald

Thank you, Bob, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining the call today. In my discussions of our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2026 financial results, references to revenue, net income, and net cash generated from operations are on a U.S. GAAP basis, while adjusted net income, adjusted earnings per share, adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow are on a non-GAAP basis. Reconciliations of our U.S. GAAP to non-GAAP measures are included in the tables attached to our earnings press release. Turning to our results, we had a strong fourth quarter across many key operating metrics, including revenue, adjusted EBITDA, EPS, and free cash flow. This was our sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth, resulting in top-line growth of 12% for the quarter. Our differentiating solutions and execution are clearly separating us from the traditional BPO pack.

Fourth quarter revenue was $164.3 million, up from $147.1 million in the prior year quarter. Revenue growth was driven by vertical growth in Health Tech of 42%, Technology of 27%, Travel, Transportation, and Logistics of 18%, Retail & E-commerce of 7%, with help from growth in our AI agent solutions. We continue to win and grow in all geographic markets during the quarter. Our onshore region grew 15% compared to the prior year quarter, driven by clients won and launched during fiscal year 2026, including several clients in our higher margin Health Tech vertical. Our highest margin offshore region grew 14% from the prior year quarter, and our nearshore locations grew 2%. Offshore revenue comprised 50% of total revenue, allowing us to maintain our strong gross margin of 28.6% for the quarter. Onshore revenue expanded to 28% of total revenue from 27% in the prior year quarter.

Our higher margin digital and omnichannel services also continue to strengthen, growing 12% versus the prior year quarter to 82% of total revenue. This continued mix shift reflects the growing contribution of our digital and AI-enabled solutions and reinforces the strategic and financial impact as deployments begin to scale. We have structurally built ibex so that our growth vectors are our highest margins regions, services, and vertical markets, and we expect that we will continue to be successful driving long-term margin growth.

Fourth quarter GAAP net income was $8.7 million compared to $9.6 million in the prior year quarter. The results were primarily driven by training expenses related to the many new client wins in the quarter and temporary impact of work transferring from nearshore to offshore delivery centers, as well as the impact of higher fuel prices on utility and transportation expenses, particularly in our offshore region. Our GAAP results also include $2 million of lease termination losses and severance expense associated with a shift of work from our nearshore to offshore regions, as well as impairment losses and asset disposal gains. Our tax rate was 10% versus 19% in the prior year quarter, primarily attributable to changes in revenue mix across our taxable jurisdictions and discrete tax items, including a favorable resolution of uncertain tax position during the current year.

Fully diluted GAAP EPS was $0.59, down from $0.66 in the prior year quarter. Moving to non-GAAP measures, adjusted EBITDA decreased slightly to $20.2 million, or 12.3% of revenue, from $20.5 million, or 13.9% of revenue, for the same period last year and driven primarily by the expenses related to new client wins, the temporary impact of work transferring from nearshore to offshore, as well as the impact of higher fuel prices. We expect adjusted EBITDA margins to return to expanding in the first quarter of fiscal year 2027.

In addition to our customary non-GAAP adjustments of stock-based compensation and foreign currency gains and losses, our non-GAAP results also exclude the $2 million of lease termination losses, severance expense, impairment losses, and asset disposal gains discussed above. Adjusted net income remained consistent at $12.7 million when compared to the prior quarter. Non-GAAP fully diluted adjusted earnings per share was $0.85 compared to $0.87 in the prior year quarter. As a company, we are pleased with the client diversification we have established over the last several years.

For the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, our largest client accounted for 9% of revenue, and our top five, top 10, and top 25 clients represented 33%, 53%, and 75%, respectively, of overall revenue, compared to 36%, 54%, and 79%, respectively, of overall revenue in the prior year quarter, representative of a well-diversified client portfolio which continues to diversify with new clients. Over the past decade, we have done a tremendous job of not only retaining our top 25 clients, but also winning and growing new strategic clients. Two great examples of this are two of our signature client wins from fiscal year '25 growing into top 25 clients, and one of our signature client wins from fiscal year '24 growing into a top 10 client.

Switching to our verticals, Health Tech grew 42% and increased to 17.9% of fourth quarter revenue versus 14% in the prior quarter. Technology grew 27% and increased to 8.4% compared to 7.4%. Travel, Transportation, and Logistics grew 18% and increased to 14.5% compared to 13.8%. And Retail & E-commerce grew 7% and comprised 24.2% of total revenue compared to 25.3% in the prior year quarter. These increases were driven by continued growth in multiple offshore geographies and our continued ability to win significant new clients in these verticals. Conversely, our exposure to the lower margin Telecommunications vertical decreased to 9.4% of revenue for the quarter versus 10.9% in the prior year quarter as we see lower volume from legacy carriers.

Revenues from the FinTech vertical were up 3% and represented 9.7% of revenue for the quarter versus 10.6% in the prior year quarter. Moving on to our full-year results, we achieved record full-year revenue, adjusted EBITDA, EPS, adjusted EPS, operating cash flow, and free cash flow for fiscal year 2026. Fiscal year 2026 revenue was $644.1 million, an increase of 15.4% from $558.3 million in the prior year. Revenue growth was driven by vertical growth in Health Tech of 38%, Technology of 26%, Travel, Transportation, and Logistics of 17%, and Retail & E-commerce of 14%, along with accelerating growth in our digital acquisition business and our AI agent solutions.

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. Our onshore region grew 25% compared to prior year, driven by growth of several clients in our higher margin Health Tech vertical, in our high margin AI agent solutions, and digital acquisition business. Our highest margin offshore region comprised 51% of total revenue and grew 16% compared to prior year. Revenue from our nearshore locations grew 5% compared to the prior year.

Fiscal year 2026 net income increased to $46.3 million versus $36.9 million in the prior year. The increase was primarily driven by the continued revenue growth and operating leverage gained from SG&A expenses. Our effective tax rate was 14.7% versus 19.7% for fiscal year 2026, which was attributable to changes in revenue mix across our taxable jurisdictions and discrete items recognized in the current year. Excluding the discrete tax benefits from stock-based compensation and favorable resolution of uncertain tax positions, our effective tax rate would have been 18.2% for fiscal year 2026. We expect our normalized tax rate going forward to be in a 20% to 22% range, benefiting from higher net income and lower diluted shares outstanding. Our GAAP fully diluted earnings per share increased 32.8% to $3.13.

Reviewing our non-GAAP measures for the full year, adjusted EBITDA increased to a record of $82.4 million compared to $72 million for the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 12.8% for fiscal year 2026, consistent with 12.9% for the prior year. Adjusted net income increased 21% to $52.2 million compared to $43 million in the prior year. Non-GAAP fully diluted adjusted earnings per share increased 28% to $3.52 compared to $2.75. The increase in non-GAAP adjusted net income and non-GAAP fully diluted earnings per share was primarily driven by the top and bottom line operating performance discussed earlier and our lower tax rate and share count.

Moving to cash flow, net cash generated from operating activities was a record $59 million for fiscal year 2026 compared to $45.7 million for fiscal year 2025, which was driven by an increase in our revenues and profitability offset by a higher use of working capital. Our DSOs were 69 days for the quarter, down from 72 days at the end of last year. We expect our DSOs to remain stable in the low to mid-70s on a go-forward basis. Capital expenditures were $27.8 million or 4.3% of revenue for fiscal year 2026, versus $18.4 million or 3.3% of revenue in the prior year. This increase was primarily driven by expansions in our offshore regions and purchases of IT and telecommunications equipment to support the company's continued growth.

Free cash flow for fiscal year 2026 was a record inflow of $31.2 million compared to an inflow of $27.3 million in the prior year. This increase was primarily driven by the increase in net cash generated from operating activities offset by the planned increase in capital expenditures. We are proud to have achieved record cash flow levels while investing for high growth. During the quarter, we repurchased 143,000 shares for $4.3 million at an average price of $29.83, bringing our fiscal year share repurchases to 453,000 shares for $14.4 million at an average price of $31.70.

On May 11, 2026, the Board authorized a new share repurchase program for $20 million, and the total amount available for repurchase as of June 30, 2026, was $17.9 million. We ended the fourth quarter with $32.6 million of cash and debt of $1.7 million for a net cash position of $30.9 million, an improvement of $16.9 million compared to net cash of $14 million at the end of the third quarter, an improvement of $17.2 million compared to net cash of $13.7 million at the end of our last fiscal year.

I am also pleased to mention two additional items. First, we just renewed our revolving HSBC credit facilities through October 2029 with a total capacity of up to $76 million. Additionally, as it has now been over five years since our IPO, we have exited emerging growth status and are well prepared for the SOX certification process to attest to the effectiveness of our financial reporting and disclosure controls. Looking back, fiscal year 2026 was a banner year that included record performance across many key operating metrics, including revenue, adjusted EBITDA, EPS, and free cash flow. Our financial results were driven by consistent performance throughout the year, supported by our differentiated strategy and increased traction in our AI-enabled solution offerings.

Looking ahead, this momentum gives us confidence that our strategy will continue generating results that outpace our market as we head to fiscal year 2027. Forecasting the year ahead, our healthy balance sheet and cash flows are enabling us to continue to make smart investments to support increased capacity for anticipated growth, as well as to further extend our current AI leadership position. Reflective of our current position and forward momentum, we are providing initial first quarter and fiscal year 2027 revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance.

For fiscal year 2027, revenue is expected to be in the range of $700 million to $715 million or 9% to 11% growth. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $90 million to $94 million or 9% to 14% growth. For the first quarter fiscal year 2027, revenue is expected to be in the range of $168 million to $170 million or 11% to 12% growth. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $22 million to $23 million or 13% to 18% growth. Capital expenditures for the year are expected to be in the range of $25 million to $30 million. Our business is well positioned for today and the years ahead, and we are excited about the momentum we have built as we head into fiscal year 2027 and beyond.

With that, Bob and I will now take questions. Operator, please open the line.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Our first question comes from the line of Jacob Haggarty with Baird.

Phần hỏi đáp

Jacob Haggarty

Congrats on another great quarter here. Just a question real quick, could you -- like, your growth has accelerated pretty nicely since the AI fears have kicked in, ironically. Are you guys already seeing benefits from AI? Is that part of what's driving this growth, or can that be an accelerating factor in the years to come here?

Robert Dechant

Hey, Jacob, it's Bob, and thanks for the question and appreciate your being on the call. So here is my belief is our performance continues to stand out, and that is noticed by potential clients that are looking at us, et cetera. But when we do the announcement with Sierra, such a strong player in the AI world, it also helps them take notice, and it puts us, I think, into a different classification versus the rest of the pack. And really moves us into that position of being a BPO player that can be their partner for today in the human world, but also be their partner as they now evolve and the -- bring AI agents to market.

And so it further differentiates us. And I think that is what we are seeing is the acceleration of our business, our traditional business, our business to -- our ability to win new logos, but it also now creates what we are really excited about is another dimension for growth. Because if you think about our implementations, we go from a proof of concept to rapidly full deployment.

We go to 20% to 40% of their enterprise volume, as I highlighted in those case studies. Now, do you know how long that would take to hire to 20% to 40% on the human side between training and hiring? It takes a long time to build that type of scale. And now we are building that scale almost immediately with the scale of the AI agent solution. So we think pathway to revenue for that is really exciting. So we just think that, that adds a whole lot, another dimension of growth to our business. And like I said, in the face of the threat of AI, and we are out in front of it, so we actually truly believe we future-proofed this business.

Jacob Haggarty

Yes, no, that makes a lot of sense. And just a modeling question really quick on FQ4 tax rate. It was a bit lower. How do you think about that for the coming year? Like, should that go back to near 20% or does that stay structurally lower for a little bit?

Taylor Greenwald

Good question. Jacob, good to hear from you. You are right. So going forward, we would expect our tax rate to continue to be in that 20% to 22% range. The fourth quarter we benefited from some discrete tax items, including a favorable resolution from a tax matter with the tax authority. So I think for modeling purposes, 20% to 22% would be the right range.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of David Paige with RBC.

David Paige Papadogonas

Congrats on the good results. Looks like a broad-based growth across all four verticals. So I was just wondering if you could provide a little bit more color on each vertical out into 1Q and to 2027. Is growth going to be accelerating? Or where should we be focused on?

Robert Dechant

Sure, David, thank you for joining. Thank you for that question. And you -- I like how you touched on that because we are seeing growth in our key verticals, and that's something that we believe is important, how we have built ourselves, a diversified as a business from a client and a vertical standpoint. Let's start with the Health care, Health Tech vertical. We are doing an amazing job with the big payers and the pipeline is really strong in that space with those players. And we feel, like, that will continue to fuel a lot of growth for us as we win those throughout the course of this year. Our pipeline is really strong there. But we have also won in what I'll call more specialty areas of the health care ecosystem. Things like non-emergency medical transportation, where we are just winning deal after deal after deal.

And so we are really excited because we have the strength of those that have massive budgets for CX, and then we are winning in with the specialty companies that allow us to really, kind of, have a really strong one-two punch. When I think about the e-commerce world, we are doing very well in the e-commerce world. We are winning new logos. We are winning as e-commerce world is looking for disruptive markets, low price points. Our Pakistan market is on fire, growing rapidly as are several of our other low-cost markets.

But we are -- one area of growth there is we're just winning massive market share against our competitors by simply outperforming them, which is a really good position to be in because that's obviously then really sticky if you are outperforming, if you are growing with them. And then if you are bringing some of these innovative solutions, you become a more and more trusted partner. And so I think we're doing very well in that space. I'd say similarly in the Travel, Transportation, where we are winning.

Look, we highlighted what we did with Philippine Airlines. Well, we are deferring and containing a lot of calls that were going to humans with AI, but we are doing that. We are winning market share and we are growing with them. And so we are able to win new businesses just based on, kind of, what we are doing in as a business, our differentiated value proposition. As I look into '27, I feel really strong about the trajectory of the business. The 9 new logos, I don't think are a one-off that we did in the Q4. I really think that's a -- that is a combination of the brand that we've created, the differentiation that we continually highlight, and then our strong AI play, and in particular, AI agent play.

We're -- our competition in the BPO space, they are not leaning into this. And so we are well ahead of anybody in the pack. And as clients look at that, they want a provider that can deliver successful AI agents. And that's the solution that we built with Sierra, leveraging the strength of them and the strength of us. We put it together. And as you can see, we are delivering the end. That's resonating and that is driving growth. So I feel really strong about the trajectory of this business.

David Paige Papadogonas

Congrats on the good results.

Robert Dechant

Great. Thank you. Yes, we are really proud of what we have done.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, I am showing no further questions in the queue. I would now like to turn the call back over to CEO Bob Dechant for closing remarks.

Robert Dechant

Thanks, operator, and thanks all for participating today. As you can tell, we are really proud of the work that we've done here. And again, it's all driven by the best team in the industry. So I just want to thank them, a special call out to them. I appreciate all your efforts that you put out throughout the entire year. I couldn't be more proud of what you've done and what we've done as a company. Thank you all for joining us today. And we look forward to speaking with you shortly next quarter in November. Have a good night.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.