logo image
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • SlatorCon Remote May 2021
    • Email Marketing for Freelance Linguists
    • Preparing for the Critical Google Update Coming in May 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs
MENU
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • SlatorCon Remote May 2021
    • Email Marketing for Freelance Linguists
    • Preparing for the Critical Google Update Coming in May 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs

Register For Email Marketing for Freelance Linguists and Learn How To Win New Clients.

  • Slator Market Intelligence
  • Slator Advertising Services
  • Slator Advisory
  • Login
Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Advertisement
Lionbridge’s Third Quarter: Some Rain, Some Shine

4 years ago

November 10, 2016

Lionbridge’s Third Quarter: Some Rain, Some Shine

Financial Results ·

by Florian Faes

On November 10, 2016

4 years ago
Financial Results ·

by Florian Faes

On November 10, 2016

Lionbridge’s Third Quarter: Some Rain, Some Shine

Lionbridge, still the world’s largest language service provider (LSP) by revenues, posted results for Q3 2016 on November 8, 2016. At USD 135.2m, revenues were slightly down for the quarter compared to USD 138.6m for the same period in 2015. Revenues of USD 415.8m for the first nine months of 2016 were also down marginally versus USD 419.1m in 2015.

In a call with analysts, Lionbridge CEO Rory Cowan pointed toward the exit of the interpretation contract with the US Department of Justice as weighing on sales. Excluding the DoJ contract, revenues would have been slightly up, largely due to the November 2015 acquisition of legal LSP Geotext, as Cowan also noted.

A reduction in admin and other expenses helped the bottom line with adjusted EBITDA up marginally (USD 13m for the quarter and USD 37m for the first nine months). The outlook for both revenue and earnings in 2017 was described as “strong.”

Advertisement

Cowan also touched on the reorganization that saw Lionbridge move from a centralized model, managed along functional lines, toward individual business units aligned by vertical or geography. In mid-2016, Lionbridge announced the new structure and appointed nine General Managers to lead the new business units.

Tech in Retreat

Lionbridge’s bread-and-butter technology vertical did not help this quarter. CEO Cowan told analysts that “lumpiness with our two major accounts” contributed to the quarter being at the “at the low end of our guidance range.”

More broadly, Cowan seemed unenthusiastic about the traditional enterprise technology space, which he told analysts contributes some USD 150m in annual revenues. “Except for some of the new Web property, [traditional tech] is probably flat to down as new technologies are reducing the demand for technology product localization,” said Cowan.

Cowan provided the analysts with a couple of examples of why volumes in technology are dwindling. First, smartphone manufacturers increasingly use icons instead of reams of text in lengthy manuals. Also, forums and e-mail have replaced high-volume multilingual FAQs in call centers and customer service.

Pockets of Growth

Cowan pointed to Lionbridge’s OnDemand platform as one growth area. The platform is a DIY online channel that targets the so-called long tail of translation demand. In the third quarter, the unit posted sales of USD 3m, a record according to Cowan. At a hypothetical annualized USD 12m, OnDemand is moving toward comparable offerings from the likes of Translated.net or TextMaster.

As with other large LSPs such as Welocalize, Lionbridge has traditionally relied on big tech companies for large, predictable volumes and now looks to offset reduced demand there with new business in regulated industries. Since an organic build-out in these industries takes time, recent acquisitions were focused on verticals such as legal, finance, and life sciences.

Cowan sought to counter the negative news from tech. “The pace of new business has never been stronger,” he said, referring to 10 large contracts that “should generate more than USD 25m annually.”

The Lionbridge CEO highlighted recent wins with a Canadian government agency, a clinical research organization, and a US manufacturer. In Canada, the strong presence of Lionbridge-owned CLS Communication apparently helped clinch the deal. Incidentally, Canada’s Translation Bureau has faced criticism in recent months for, among other things, reducing internal staff and stepping up outsourcing.

OPI

Cowan also wants to grow over-the-phone-interpretation (OPI), a service that has made headlines recently with Teleperformance’s USD 1.5bn acquisition of LanguageLine. He told analysts the company recently won US Customs and Immigration Enforcement as a client for OPI.

“This multimillion dollar, five-year contract is already ramping [up] in the fourth quarter,” Cowan said. He is “very excited about the potential of the space” and pointed to the high valuation paid by French Teleperformance for US-based LanguageLine.

Finally, Cowan looks to leverage the crowd-management capabilities Lionbridge built up in its search testing business for new opportunities in natural language processing and speech; an area, where Australia’s Appen has carved out a lucrative niche.

TAGS

AppenCLS CommunicationLanguageLineLionbridgeRory CowanTeleperformance
SHARE
Florian Faes

By Florian Faes

Co-Founder of Slator. Linguist, business developer, and mountain runner. Based in the beautiful lakeside city of Zurich, Switzerland.

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SLATOR WEEKLY

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

SUBSCRIBE

SlatorSweepSlatorPro
ResearchRFP CENTER

PUBLISH

PRESS RELEASEDIRECTORY LISTING
JOB ADEVENT LISTING

Bespoke advisory including speaking, briefings and M&A

SLATOR ADVISORY
Advertisement

Featured Reports

See all
Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

by Slator

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

by Slator

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

by Slator

Pro Guide: Sales and Marketing for Language Service Providers

Pro Guide: Sales and Marketing for Language Service Providers

by Slator

Press Releases

See all
6CONNEX to Partner with Interprefy to Help Clients Host Large Scale Events in Any Language

6CONNEX to Partner with Interprefy to Help Clients Host Large Scale Events in Any Language

by Interprefy

BLEND Raises $10m to Fuel Global Growth with End-to-end Localization Services

BLEND Raises $10m to Fuel Global Growth with End-to-end Localization Services

by BLEND

Iconic Launches INTRA Translation Platform

Iconic Launches INTRA Translation Platform

by Iconic

Upcoming Events

See All
  1. Smartling - Global Ready Conference 2021

    Global Ready Conference

    by Smartling

    · April 14

    When you can't traverse the world, let the world come to you. Join our annual global event from home.

    More info FREE

Featured Companies

See all
Sunyu Transphere

Sunyu Transphere

Text United

Text United

Memsource

Memsource

Wordbank

Wordbank

Protranslating

Protranslating

Seprotec

Seprotec

Versacom

Versacom

Smartling

Smartling

XTM International

XTM International

Translators without Borders

Translators without Borders

STAR Group

STAR Group

memoQ Translation Technologies

memoQ Translation Technologies

Advertisement

Popular articles

Poland Rules on LSP Using Google Translate; Defines ‘Professional Translator’

Poland Rules on LSP Using Google Translate; Defines ‘Professional Translator’

by Marion Marking

The Slator 2021 Language Service Provider Index

The Slator 2021 Language Service Provider Index

by Slator

Behind the Scenes of the European Parliament’s Pivot to Remote Interpreting

Behind the Scenes of the European Parliament’s Pivot to Remote Interpreting

by Seyma Albarino

SlatorPod: The Weekly Language Industry Podcast

connect with us

footer logo

Slator makes business sense of the language services and technology market.

Our Company

  • Support
  • About us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Subscribe to the Slator Weekly

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

© 2021 Slator. All rights reserved.

Sign up to the Slator Weekly

Join over 13,500 subscribers and get the latest language industry intelligence every Friday

Your information will never be shared with third parties. No Spam.