TRG Pakistan Financial Review: Reaping Benefits of Portfolio Company Performance with Rs. 4bn Profit in First 9 Months

In April this year, technology industry heavyweight TRG Pakistan Limited posted a profit-after-tax (PAT) of Rs 4 billion for the first nine months of the financial year 2024-25. The company shared the development in a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in April 2025. While the full-year (June 2025) earnings are expected to be released sometime in September 2025, here we take a look at the factors contributing to the company’s performance so far. TRG Pakistan acts as a holding vehicle, with its sole asset being a non-controlling position in Bermuda-incorporated TRG International Limited, which in turn holds equity positions in TRG’s various operating assets. As an investment company, its profit or loss are primarily driven by the changes in value of its underlying assets, which include its equity stakes in portfolio companies IBEX (listed on NASDAQ) and Afiniti (privately held). Over the last four quarters, the value of TRG’s stake in IBEX has followed a rapidly positive trajectory with a consistent increase in its share price on NASDAQ. This increase comes on the heels of consistent quarterly “beat and raise” cycles, where IBEX’s financial performance has exceeded analyst expectations despite headwinds in the broader business process outsourcing industry. With a return to robust revenue growth, tight operating cost control and a rapidly diversifying solution set reflecting the impact of automation and artificial intelligence on the customer experience industry, IBEX now enjoys a premium earnings multiple among its publicly listed peers on the US equity markets; and its share price reflects that momentum. TRG’s other primary operating asset is Afiniti, which uses predictive artificial intelligence to enhance customer experience outcomes. In December 2024, Afiniti closed a comprehensive financial restructuring of its balance sheet, which was burdened by an unsustainable $500 million in debt incurred largely between 2019 and 2021 by its then leadership, to fund historical operating losses. The restructuring involved reducing Afiniti’s senior debt by more than 50% and accorded a controlling stake to its primary lender, with preferred shareholders such as TRG continuing to retain a significant equity stake. Afiniti appears to be rapidly diversifying its product platform to address the impact of generative AI on the customer experience industry; however, such investments generally require some lead time before having an impact upon the company’s equity value. In December 2021, the boards of TRG Pakistan and TRG International appointed Mohammed Khaishgi as the CEO of TRG International and Hasnain Aslam as CEO of TRG Pakistan. The two executives had already been managing a substantial portion of TRG’s operating portfolio since 2016, when their former co-founder took on full time CEO responsibilities at Afiniti. During that time, they had successfully overseen the NASDAQ IPO of IBEX in mid 2020 and the sale of eTelequote in mid 2021, with these two monetizations ultimately yielding $500 million to TRG International shareholders on net TRGI capital investments of approximately $50 million. Upon taking control in late 2021, Aslam and Khaishgi inherited a company that, on the one hand, was flush with undistributed cash from the successfully sale of eTelequote, but on the other hand, where its equity stakes in IBEX and Afiniti were at serious risk of value destruction from any perceived association with their predecessor, threatening tens of thousands of jobs including in Pakistan. They proceeded rapidly to provide monetization options to shareholders which resulted in a foreign exchange inflow of nearly $100 million to Pakistani shareholders, while putting in place safeguards to mitigate against reputational and governance risk which protected TRG’s operating assets. The strategy worked – as IBEX’s share price more than doubled between late 2021 and the present, and Afiniti was able to protect its client relationships and preserve value in the run-up to its debt restructuring. As with most balance sheet restructurings, TRG’s equity stake in Afiniti underwent a significant accounting write-down, reflected in the June 2024 financial statements, as the equity portion of the company’s enterprise value was crowded out by its unsustainable historical debt. The Afiniti debt restructuring was recognized by The M&A Advisor as the Turnaround Award Winner in 2024 for “Restructuring of the Year” and has provided an opportunity for existing shareholders such as TRG to recover equity value upon a successful company turnaround following the restructuring. Reached for commentary on the nine-month results, co-founder and CEO of TRG Pakistan, Hasnain Aslam said: “Our highly profitable results this year illustrate the success in creating tangible equity value in our portfolio assets. We are especially proud that our portfolio companies have helped redefine Pakistan’s role in the global IT services landscape.” Asked to comment on TRG’s strategic outlook, co-founder, current CEO of TRG International and Chairman of TRG Pakistan, Mohammed Khaishgi, added: “Our TRG platform has incubated and scaled winners in the BPO and customer experience sectors. We believe that this platform is well positioned to continuing to do so given the exciting opportunities available in the industry. We would not have been able to achieve this success had it not been for the incredible human capital available in Pakistan.” TRG Pakistan’s financial rebound in FY2025, after last year’s write-down of Afiniti, has drawn attention from investors on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), where it remains a closely tracked stock both from its exposure to portfolio company upside as well as the liquidity at TRG International. Market analysts note that the stock could be poised for breakout performance should it be able to resolve its shareholder issues, that are related to attempts by its former CEO to control the company. They cite TRG’s business model of diversified portfolio assets with front-ends in high demand markets such as the United States and development and delivery in favorable price/quality ratio markets such as Pakistan. While TRG’s portfolio companies employ 35,000 employees globally, in Pakistan alone, they employ approximately 10,000 people, generating $100 million in foreign exchange annually, positioning TRG among the largest private-sector contributors to the country’s reserves.