ATTO Atento SA

NEW YORK, April 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Atento S.A. (NYSE: ATTO) ("Atento" or the "Company"), the largest provider of customer-relationship management and business-process outsourcing services in Latin America, and among the top five providers globally, today announced that, in response to the global spread of COVID-19, telework capabilities have been extended to approximately 46 thousand agents, nearly forty-percent of total, as part of the Company's efforts to rapidly implement health and safety measures and to maintain business continuity, taking into consideration that its services or its clients services have been designated as essential in most regions where it operates.

Atento has implemented strict health and safety measures at all of its operations and which meet or exceed WHO COVID-19 guidelines and local regulations. In addition to enabling employees to work remotely from home, telework reduces the number of employees at facilities and call centers, helping maintain minimum distances between workstations, among other safeguards that have been implemented across the Company and which are overseen by special regional and global committees. 

Carlos López-Abadia, Atento's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "Our priority is the health and well-being of our employees while maintaining service levels for our clients whose products and services reach more than 500 million consumers in Latin America, the United States and Spain. Our technology and operations teams have worked tirelessly to rapidly ramp up telework capabilities for Atento employees, enabling end-customers to access services from the safety of their homes during the current global crisis. Most recently, we launched COVID-19 call-center services for the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Peru, which comprise technology infrastructure and logistics support. Telework at Atento is also being facilitated by the digital transformation process that we have been undergoing since last year, which has included re-skilling and digital recruiting, among other forms of employee development that have been strengthened during the past few weeks."

José Azevedo, Atento's Chief Financial Officer said, "Atento's solid balance sheet has enabled us to fund the numerous health and safety measures that we have been rapidly implementing in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The bulk of our investments in digital transformation was completed last year. The average maturity of our debt at the end of 2019 was of 2.7 years with no relevant principal payment due until August 2022, and we have already accessed an additional US$ 90 million in revolving credit facilities. Because the duration, scope and magnitude of COVID-19 remains unpredictable, we are maintaining strict cost control measures to preserve financial liquidity and the ability to continue executing our transformation plan."

Atento is traditionally a socially-responsible company and is proud to contribute toward helping assure the continuity of essential services for citizens around the world through remote and secure customer services.

The Company will keep the market updated, as necessary, and will provide additional information about its COVID-19 response in its first quarter 2020 earnings press release and conference call.

About Atento

Atento is the largest provider of customer relationship management and business process outsourcing (CRM BPO) solutions in Latin America, and among the top five providers globally, based on revenues. Atento is also a leading provider of nearshoring CRM/BPO services to companies that carry out their activities in the United States. Since 1999, the company has developed its business model in 13 countries where it employs 150,000 people. Atento has over 400 clients to whom it offers a wide range of CRM/BPO services through multiple channels. Atento's clients are mostly leading multinational corporations in sectors such as telecommunications, banking and financial services, health, retail and public administrations, among others. Atento's shares trade under the symbol ATTO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In 2019, Atento has been named one of the World's 25 Best Multinational Workplaces and one of the Best Multinationals to Work for in Latin America by Great Place to Work®. For more information visit www.atento.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "intends," "continue" or similar terminology. These statements reflect only Atento's current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance or results. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, competition in Atento's highly competitive industries; increases in the cost of voice and data services or significant interruptions in these services; Atento's ability to keep pace with its clients' needs for rapid technological change and systems availability; the continued deployment and adoption of emerging technologies; the loss, financial difficulties or bankruptcy of any key clients; the effects of global economic trends on the businesses of Atento's clients; the non-exclusive nature of Atento's client contracts and the absence of revenue commitments; security and privacy breaches of the systems Atento uses to protect personal data; the cost of pending and future litigation; the cost of defending Atento against intellectual property infringement claims; extensive regulation affecting many of Atento's businesses; Atento's ability to protect its proprietary information or technology; service interruptions to Atento's data and operation centers; Atento's ability to retain key personnel and attract a sufficient number of qualified employees; increases in labor costs and turnover rates; the political, economic and other conditions in the countries where Atento operates; changes in foreign exchange rates; Atento's ability to complete future acquisitions and integrate or achieve the objectives of its recent and future acquisitions; future impairments of our substantial goodwill, intangible assets, or other long-lived assets; and Atento's ability to recover consumer receivables on behalf of its clients. In addition, Atento is subject to risks related to its level of indebtedness. Such risks include Atento's ability to generate sufficient cash to service its indebtedness and fund its other liquidity needs; Atento's ability to comply with covenants contained in its debt instruments; the ability to obtain additional financing; the incurrence of significant additional indebtedness by Atento and its subsidiaries; and the ability of Atento's lenders to fulfill their lending commitments. Atento is also subject to other risk factors described in documents filed by the company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. 

These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which the statements were made. Atento undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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SOURCE Atento S.A.