PLDT slips on forex losses, Yolanda; 2013 net profit down 2% to P35.4B

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) on Tuesday said net profits slipped by 2 percent to P35.4 billion in 2013 from P36.1 billion a year earlier, dented by foreign exchange losses and and impact of  Typhoon Yolanda.

 

Core net income, which excludes exceptional items, was up by 5 percent to P38.7 billion from P36.9 billion on higher service revenues in the same comparable period.

Net forex and derivative losses reached P3.7 billion before tax and P2.2 billion after tax.

 

"The losses from Yolanda involved sites that went down and fiber optic areas that were affected in the Central Philippines," president and CEO Napoleon Nazareno told reporters in a briefing in Makati City.

 

PLDT estimated P900 million in losses were incurred from Yolanda, excluding any insurance recovery.

 

Consolidated revenues grew 3 percent to P164.1 billion from P159.7 billion, with data and internet business offsetting declines in international and national long distance streams.

 

"2013 was characterized by a structural shift in our revenue mix. Our 'growing' revenues, or those from our data business... are now larger than those from our legacy business..." Nazareno said.

 

The PLDT board declared a final regular dividend of P62 per share as well as a special dividend of P54 per share, bringing the total dividend payout to P179 per share.

 

This year, chairman Manuel Pangilinan said PLDT earmarked up to P32 billion in capital expenditures and targets a core net income of P39.5 billion.

 

"I am pleased to note that PLDT has turned the corner and is back on the growth track as demonstrated by the marked improvement in our 2013 numbers and early indications from the first two months of 2014," he said.

 

The capex will take into account the "strengthening of of baystations to withstand sustained winds of up to 313 kilometers per hour and the moving of fiber optics underground," Nazareno said. – VS, GMA News