PhilWeb income up 28% to P477 million in 9 months

MANILA, Philippines - PhilWeb Corp., the country’s largest listed online technology firm, posted a net income of P477 million in the first nine months of the year, up 28 percent from P373 million last year, on steady growth of its core businesses.

In a dislosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, PhilWeb said revenues grew 30 percent to P755 million from P580 million.

“We are particularly pleased with our third quarter results, as it shows that our core businesses remain robust,” PhilWeb president Dennis Valdes said.

He said the company has remitted a total of P921 million to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) through the third quarter of 2010, representing the state gaming firm’s 60 percent share of the e-Games Internet cafe and Internet sports betting station businesses.

He said the company expects to remit a total of P1.3 billion to Pagcor by the end of this year, with October remittances already reaching P1.1 billion.

“We are also pleased with our businesses’ performance at the start of the fourth quarter this year, which show continued growth. Thus, we remain confident that 2010 will be a record year for PhilWeb, both in terms of revenues and net income,” Valdes said.

PhilWeb is a lead technology enabler of Pagcor whose core businesses include e-Games cafes, Internet sports betting stations, mobile phone gaming, and online casino gaming. It opened 50 e-Games cafes last year to bring the total outlet network to 171.

The company, through Philweb Homeplay Inc., launched the first Internet-based casino gaming website, offering traditional casino games like blackjack, baccarat roulette and slots to Filipino players 21 years or older.

PhilWeb’s other products include Basketball Jackpot, Premyo Sa Resibo and the Bid Wars mobile game.

– Zinnia dela Peña, Mary Ann Reyes