ABS-CBN sticks to P3-B profit goal

MANILA, Philippines - Media and entertainment firm ABS-CBN Corp. is keeping its P3 billion net income guidance for the year, even as net earnings declined 59 percent in the first quarter.

“We remain confident that we will meet our earnings target of P3 billion for the year,” ABS-CBN chief financial officer Aldrin Cerrado said in a briefing.

Cerrado said the firm did not expect a significant growth in earnings during the first quarter due to the strong performance in the same period last year. ABS-CBN’s profit fell to P314.4 million, down from P760.6 million a year ago.

“First quarter earnings tend to be lower than the subsequent quarters due to the cyclicality of advertising placements,” he said.

Revenues reached P9.58 billion this year, down three percent  from P9.89 billion in the same period last year.

The network, however, managed to reduce production costs.

“We expect costs to go down further as we replace some of the higher cost programs which were carried over from last year,” Cerrado said.

According to Kantar Media TV Audience Measurement, ABS-CBN continues to dominate the national TV ratings with an overall audience share of 51.1 percent during the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Philippine Rating Services Corp. maintained the PRS Aaa issue credit rating for ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.’s P6 billion bond offering.

The bonds are due on Feb. 10, 2021 and carry an interest rate of 5.335 percent.

PhilRatings likewise assigned a stable outlook for the bonds.