PhilWeb hikes par value of stocks to P1 after record first half income

MANILA, Philippines - PhilWeb Corp., the Philippines’ first and largest listed internet company, voted to increase the par value of its shares from one centavo to P1 per share, at a special stockholders meeting held last Aug. 14.

Vice-chairman Eric Recto noted that the increase in par value was done at the request of several institutional investor groups, who were previously precluded from investing in PhilWeb due to their internal rules disallowing investments in “penny stock” companies. “With the new par value, we expect interest in PhilWeb shares to jump,” noted Recto.

At the same meeting, Dennis Valdes, PhilWeb president, reported record results for the first half of 2009, including P228 million in net income. He said the company projects that growth will accelerate in the second half of the year, propelling net income to a total of P584 million for the full year 2009, twice last year’s net income of P292 million. Valdes said that drivers for this growth include quicker expansion of PAGCOR e-Games (PEGS) cafés, its recession-proof revenue driver. PhilWeb now has 156 PEGS cafés, a growth of 29 percent since just the beginning of the year. “We expect to hit 200 cafés by yearend,” he continued.

Valdes, likewise, mentioned PhilWeb’s new mobile gaming products that will add topline revenue, including newly launched Bid Wars (www.bidwars.com.ph) , an sms-based, lowest unique bid auction that opened Aug. 13, exclusive for Smart and Talk ‘N Text users.

Next month, PhilWeb, in cooperation with the Bureau of Internal Revenue, will launch Resibonanza, an instant-win, sms raffle that will complement their popular Premyo Sa Resibo raffle. He also said that the company is studying acquisitions in the technology-enabled gaming sector, one of which may be announced in the coming months.