MANILA, Philippines - Profits of index heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) rose by 2 percent in the first three months of 2014 from the same period last year, the company announced on Tuesday in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The company said its unaudited financial and operating results for the quarter of the year showed a consolidated core net income if P9.8 billion from the P9.6 billion posted in the first three months of 2013. PLDT said higher service revenues and equity share in earnings of subsidiaries, and lower financing costs contributed to the rise in profits.
Meanwhile, the company's reported net income after exceptional transactions amounted to P9.4 billion, 2 percent higher than the P9.2 billion posted in the comparable period last year. The jump came from the rise in core income and the increase in manpower rightsizing program expenses in the first quarter of 2013 following the application of Revised Philippine Accounting Standard 19, which offset higher foreign exchange and derivative losses, the company said.
PLDT's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin stood at 48 percent, while consolidated EBITDA went down by 2 percent year-on-year to P19.7 billion owing to higher cash operating expenses and a rise in subsidies which offset service revenues.
“The structural shift in our revenue mix continues, wherein growing revenues from our data businesses replace those from our legacy businesses such as NLD (national long distance), and fixed and wireless international voice. While this transition takes place, revenue growth and EBITDA margins will be tempered," PLDT Chair Manuel Pangilinan said.
He added that in the first quarter of 2014, consolidated revenues rose by 3 percent from last year on the back of a 22-percent jump in broadband and data revenues, muted by a 2 percent decline in legacy revenues and a similar decline in combined LEC (local exchange carrier), cellular domestic voice and SMS (short message service) revenues.
“Our revenue mix remains dynamic. Our task is to manage the interplay among our businesses by pushing those sectors which are growing and stable, while maximizing the longtail of our legacy segments. Given the Company’s performance in the first quarter of 2014 and the outlook for the rest of the year, I can say that PLDT is firmly back on the growth path, and on track to meet our Core Net Income guidance of P39.5 billion for the full year 2014,†Pangilinan said.