PLDT Inc. on Tuesday reported that net income for the first half had slightly increased to P18.52 billion, from P18.51 billion a year earlier,
Core income for the period, excluding asset sales and losses from Maya Innovation Holdings, was said to have reached P18.01 billion, up from P17.56 billion.
Revenues for the first six months of 2024 reached P107.58 billion, improving from P104.03 in the same period last year, as service revenues rose to P103.4 billion from P99.25 billion.
“Even as we continue to face challenges, among these geopolitical uncertainties, significant gravity in the telco space, and an increasingly competitive telco landscape, we remain determined to do our best to grow the business,” PLDT Chairman and CEO Manuel Pangilinan said.
PLDT’s individual wireless segment recorded revenues of P41.90 billion in the first half while the enterprise segment added P24 billion to the total.
The home segment’s revenues slightly declined to P30 billion from P30.10 billion posted back in 2023.
The telco reported capital expenditures of P35.10 billion, lower than the P40.80 billion posted a year earlier. PLDT is aiming to spend just P75-78 billion for the whole of 2024.
The firm also said that it expected to post mid-single digit growth for consolidated service revenues and a telco core net income above P35 billion this year.
“With the all-time highs delivered in recent periods behind us, we turn to the future that we are tasked to build for PLDT with careful optimism,” Pangilinan said.
“As we continue our pursuit of higher shareholder values, our focus on exceptional service to our customers remains intense. We continue to be confident that, as before, we will make it through with the perseverance, dedication, and innovation of our people.”
In another development, Pangilinan told reporters that PLDT had terminated negotiations with Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) for the potential sale of a 49-percent stake in a data center business.
NTT wanted to buy a majority stake in Vitro Inc., he added, which would have led to a P6-billion revenue drop for PLDT.
The telco is now in talks with another investor, which Pangilinan declined to name.
“[T]he best way to describe this is that we’re still under discussion with one particular potential investor for the data center,” he said.
“I think if we were to proceed, it’s likely that we’re going to sign with the investor within a year or before the end of the process.”
PLDT’s share price rose by P6, or 0.38 percent, to P1,600.00 amid a 0.56-percent gain for the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index.
FROM REPORTS BY ED PAOLO SALTING AND TMT
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