Pangilinan stocks down after PLDT's 'budget overrun' report

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 3:12pm) — Shares in companies led by tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan-led fell on Monday after his telco firm PLDT Inc. reported a P48-billion “budget overrun” that triggered a management shake-up.

Among the Pangilinan-led firms, PLDT was hit the hardest amid a brutal sell-off that saw the company’s shares trading down by as much as 19.35% by closing time.

PLDT last week revealed that the overruns represented an estimated 12% of the P379 billion capital expenditures budget over four years, prompting the company to go into a “management reorganization process.” The company’s internal audit has not found any evidence of fraudulent transactions. 

The bloodletting spilled over to other Pangilinan-affiliated stocks. Shares in conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. closed 0.9% down while power distributor Manila Electric Co. slumped 0.68%, recovering from losses incurred for most of the day.

Philex Mining Corp.’s worst showing for the day stood at -1.1% before recovering to close 0.73%. PXP Energy Corp. shed nearly 8% of its value before reversing those earlier losses and posting small gains.

Meanwhile, the main index ended trading down 1.27%.

PLDT disclosed that the capex set aside for 2023 will remain elevated since it will stay in the company’s financial statements this year and the next. This was tempered by the telco giant’s P77 billion tower sales. 

By 2024 onwards, the company said that capex “are expected to be lower.” 

PLDT also noted that its three business units, wireless, home and enterprise, were not affected by the capex budget overruns.