ABS-CBN trims losses in H1
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MANILA, Philippines — ABS-CBN Corp. managed to trim its losses in the first half on the back of lower costs and expenses.
ABS-CBN incurred P3.4 billion in net loss during the first semester, slightly lower than the P3.93 billion recorded in the same period last year.
The company’s consolidated revenues fell by 38.7 percent to P8.2 billion during the six-month period from a year earlier as both advertising and consumer sales plummeted.
With the absence of the company in the free-to-air advertising space due to the non-renewal of its franchise last year, advertising revenues dropped 57 percent to P2.23 billion from P5.2 billion.
Consumer sales, on the other hand, saw a 27 percent decline to P5.93 billion as the National Telecommunications Commission’s cease-and-desist order last year prohibited the company in engaging in Sky Cable’s direct-to-home services and distribution of TV Plus boxes.
ABS-CBN said further dampening its consumer revenues were the cessation of its various ancillary operations such as Heroes Burger, Kidzania Manila, and Studio XP due to the impact of COVID-19 outbreak.
The Lopez-led company, however, posted a 31 percent year-on-year decrease on direct costs and expenses which amounted to P11.5 billion.
“Following the events of the franchise denial and the impact of COVID-19, the company enforced stringent cost cutting measures to further manage the company’s financial performance,” ABS-CBN said.
“The company decided to align the number of programs based on the partnerships closed by the company with various free-to-air operators. This alignment resulted in a reduction on production cost amounting to P1.8 billion or 32.8 percent,” it said.
ABS-CBN chief executive officer and president Carlo Katigbak said during the company’s virtual annual stockholders’ meeting late last month that the network has high hopes on its recovery in the years ahead through the help of its digital and international businesses.
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