PLDT net income jumps 22% to P9B

PLDT Inc. saw a 22.4% increase in its attributable net income to P9.44 billion in the second quarter from P7.71 billion in the same period last year after booking higher revenues and lower operational expenses.

“Despite all the adversities that we have faced in the past, as any business does, I think we are showing a very solid first-half [results],” said Alfredo S. Panlilio, president and chief executive officer of PLDT, at the company’s quarterly briefing on Thursday.

From April to June, the company recorded P51.68 billion in revenues, a 1.4% increase from P50.96 billion in the same period last year.

The company’s total expenses for the second quarter reached P38.64 billion, 30.3% lower than the P55.4 billion incurred in 2022.

“The higher income was basically because of the P900 million rise in revenues combined with the P800 million reduction in operational expenses,” said Danny Y. Yu, senior vice-president and group controller of PLDT, referring to the company’s first-half showing.

In the first half, the company booked P18.45 billion in attributable net income, a 9.9% jump from P16.79 billion in the same period last year.

Its top line rose to P104.04 billion in the first semester, a 3.2% increase from P100.79 billion in 2022.

In its financial highlights, the company said that its service revenues net of interconnection costs was P94.5 billion, 0.9% higher than the P93.7 billion recorded in the first half of last year.

Cash operational expenses, subsidies, and provisions were P42.4 billion in the first six months, a 1.9% decline from P43.2 billion in 2022.

BUSINESS SEGMENTSIn the first half, the individual segment of PLDT registered P40.2 billion in revenues, a 0.2% decline from P40.3 billion last year.

Home segment had the largest revenue growth at 3.1% to P30.1 billion in the first six months from P29.2 billion in the same period in 2022.

Revenues from enterprise business were P23.2 billion from January to June, a 2.7% increase from P22.6 billion last year.

For this year, the company previously gave a service revenue growth guidance of “mid-single digit growth,”  however, it was revised to “low-single digit growth” on Thursday.

“We’ve seen some softness in the first semester due to the effects of inflation especially in wireless but I think we are seeing some progress if you look at our quarterly mobile growth from first to the second quarter,” Mr. Panlilio said,

“We’re hoping that the second half will be much stronger than the first half. We’re just being conservative on our projection, but obviously, we’re still aiming for the mid,” he added.

WIRELESS UNITAfter leading the subscriber identity module (SIM) registration based on the percentage of registered SIMs to its subscribers, PLDT wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. is “aspiring” to regain leadership in the mobile market, after losing its dominant position in 2016, Mr. Panlilio said.

“That’s always been the plan — to regain leadership. It’s very hard to do that because we have very strong competition too,” he said.

As of July 30, or the last day of the grace period allotted for SIM reactivation, the National Telecommunications Commission recorded a total of 113.97 million registrants, which represents 67.83% of the 168.02 million total subscribers.

Out of the total registrants, Smart registered 52.5 million subscribers representing 79.18% of its 66.3 million total subscribers, Globe Telecom, Inc. recorded 53.73 million registrants or 61.94% of its 86.75 million subscribers, and DITO Telecommunity Corp. booked 7.74 million registered SIMs or 51.72% of its total 14.96 million subscriber’s base.

“That’s a 1.2 million difference from the previous 20 million,” Mr. Panlilio said, referring to the market share difference after the SIM card registration run.

“We’re trying to increase average revenue per user and bring value-adding offers making sure we are able to address their requirements. Our job is how we can grab market share eventually from them,” he said.

At the stock market on Thursday, PLDT rose 0.38% or P5 to P1,310 per share.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Justine Irish D. Tabile