Eastern Communications sees 16% revenue hike

Eastern Communications expects to end the year with P901 million in revenues from P777 million in 2007, or a 16- percent growth, mainly due to the company’s strength in the corporate sector which accounts for around 88 percent of its business.

Eastern chief financial officer Raul Pagdanganan, however, said net income this year will be lower at P120 million, from P371 million, as last year’s huge bottom line was mainly due to a one-time gain of around P200 million. “In terms of organic growth, this year’s bottom line will be an improvement from last year,” he said.

For next year, revenues are projected to increase 28 percent. In terms of subscriber numbers, company officials disclosed this has reached 15,000, composed mostly of corporates and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The company has allocated P1 billion this year (around 80 percent of which will be for the backhaul project) and about half a billion next year for capital expenditure to be spent mostly for revenue-generating activities such as switches and modems.

While at present, Eastern’s operations are focused in the central business districts (CBDs) in Metro Manila, Cebu and Baguio, officials said the company is strengthening its business in areas where business process outsourcing (BPO) operations and multinational presence are strong.

This would include Tagaytay, Batangas and Laguna which company officials explained would allow Eastern to reach 600 ecozones. “But of course, we will continue to maximize our network with the CBDs, especially with SMEs growing in Metro Manila,” they added.

Eastern is 77 percent owned by publicly listed ISM Communications which, in turn, is 20 percent owned by PhilWeb Corp.

Pagdanganan also revealed that Eastern is arranging for a P250-million loan facility to finance part of the company’s capex budget. “We are now in talks with three to four banks,” he said.

Officials likewise disclosed that Eastern’s Tagaytay-Batangas fiber network is now 40 percent complete and will be finished by yearend. Meanwhile, its $1.2-million business support system is 80 percent finished, they added.