PhilWeb net income soars 41% to P322 million in first half

MANILA, Philippines - PhilWeb Corp. reported a 41-percent growth in its net income in the first half of the year on strong revenues from its core gaming operations.

In a statement issued over the weekend, Philweb said net earnings reached P322 million compared with only P228 million from January to June 2009. Revenues rose 40 percent to P508 million from a meager P362 million.

PhilWeb is a lead technology enabler of state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) whose core businesses include e-games cafes, Internet sports betting stations, mobile phone gaming, and online casino gaming.

Philweb president Dennis Valdes said the company currently operates 188 e-games cafes nationwide which continue to show double-digit increases versus last year.

He said the e-games café business is instrumental to Pagcor’s growth, noting that it contributed over P1 billion to state coffers. “This amount flows directly to Pagcor’s net income, as they do not have any capital expenditures or operating costs associated with this revenue. As of June 2010, our PEGS business alone has remitted over P600 million to Pagcor, a growth rate of 33 percent,” he said.

Aside from this, new product launches boosted PhilWeb’s strong financial results. The company launched Basketball 38 into its network of 185 Internet sports betting stations or ISBS kiosks. Basketball 38 is growing very rapidly as it offers a P1-million prize to punters who correctly guess the four winning numbers that the basketball lands on in our special domed court.

To further expand its reach and make its presence felt overseas, PhilWeb is working to obtain licenses in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Saipan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Nepal and others.

Other products, namely Basketball Jackpot, Premyo Sa Resibo, and the newly launched Bid Wars mobile game also contributed to growth.

“We are confident that 2010 will be another banner year for PhilWeb and are happy that the results of the first half show that our business plans are progressing very solidly,” Valdes added.

The company expects its bottomline to hit over P1 billion this year with the launch of its e-Games Online, operated by subsidiary Philweb Homeplay Inc. which allows Filipinos nationwide to access Pagcor’s traditional casino games like blackjack, baccarat roulette.

Last year, PhilWeb posted a net profit of P552 million, up 89 percent from the 2008 level. Bulk of earnings or P523 million came from core gaming operations which represented an increase of 126 percent over the previous year.