ABS-CBN net income surges 44% to P1.34B

MANILA, Philippines - The net income of Lopez-owned multimedia conglomerate ABS-CBN Corp. zoomed 44 percent in the first half of the year on the back of higher regular advertising revenues as well as election-related ads.

ABS-CBN Group chief financial officer Aldrin Cerrado said the company is on track to meeting its profit guidance of P2 billion this year after a strong performance in the first half of the year.

Cerrado reported that the company’s net income amounted to P1.339 billion from January to June this year or P412 million higher than the P927 million booked in the same period last year.

He pointed out that the consolidated revenues of ABS-CBN jumped 23 percent to P17.06 billion in the first half of the year from P13.838 billion in the same period last year.

According to him, the company booked P1.2 billion worth of election-related advertising in the first half of the year, increasing the share of airtime revenues to 59 percent from 56 percent and reducing the share of consumer sales to 41 percent from 44 percent.

He explained that consolidated advertising revenues went up 29 percent to P10.06 billion in the first half from P7.805 billion in the same period last year while consumer sales increased 16 percent to P7 billion from P6.033 billion.

Cerrado said SkyCable Corp. continued to be a major driver of growth as revenues jumped 30 percent to P3.409 billion from P2.624 billion.

He said total broadband revenues jumped 42 percent while total postpaid cable revenues grew 31 percent.

Total revenues of ABS-CBN Global inched up six percent to $64.929 million in the first half of the year from $61.357 million in the same period last year with the growth coming from the Middle East, Canada, Asia Pacific, Australia, and North America.

ABS-CBN also reported a 20 percent increase in cost and expenses to P15.28 billion from P12.688 billion primarily due to the 39 percent increase in general and administrative expenses.

The capital expenditure and film and program rights acquisition of ABS-CBN declined by 20 percent to P1.653 billion.