Piltel cuts deficit by 55% to P1.33B in 1st 9 months

Pilipino Telephone Corp. (Piltel) made an improvement in its financial position in the first nine months of 2003 as its net loss dropped 55 percent to P1.33 billion, from a restated net loss of P2.93 billion a year earlier.

The cellular firm, an affiliate of dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., had previously reported a Jan.-Sept. net loss of P2.85 billion in 2002.

Piltel said its gross revenues from the mobile phone business improved 28 percent to P4.87 billion and net revenues rose 56 percent to P2.57 billion. GSM revenues comprise 91 percent of Piltel’s total wireless subscriber revenues.

The company said the subscriber base of its Talk N’ Text wireless brand grew 52 percent year-on-year to 2.54 million at end-September, with 320,000 new subscribers in the third quarter alone.

Its churn rate dropped to 4.3 percent in the nine-month period from 6.1 percent a year earlier, due to the "over the air" reloading facility developed by affiliate Smart Communications Inc. and launched in May for both Smart and Piltel prepaid subscribers.

Its net operating revenues improved 35 percent to P3.128 billion from P2.313 billion a year earlier.

Also, Piltel reported a 40-percent decrease in its operating expenses to P2.75 billion from P4.63 billion a year earlier, largely due to the 83-percent decline in depreciation charges resulting from the writedown of assets in end-2002.

"The increase in revenues coupled with the reduction in operating expenses resulted in Piltel’s registering an operating profit of P378 million for the first nine months of 2003, compared to an operating loss of P2. 319 billion for the same period in 2002," the company said in a report submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Other expenses rose 178 percent year-on-year due to a foreign exchange loss of P1 billion, compared with the year-earlier level of P155 million.

Piltel also booked an impairment charge of P280 million for its investments in ACeS Philippines Cellular Satellite Corp.

"We are encouraged that Piltel has posted another quarter of positive operating results... Without the effects of the foreign exchange losses and non-recurring items, the company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was approximately P850 million," Piltel president and chief executive officer Gregorio Atienza said.

He added: "These financial results, coupled with the strong subscriber growth, indicate that we are on the right track and given us optimism for Piltel’s continued improvement." – AFP