Gaming firm eyes more acquisitions
By Paolo G. MontecilloPhilippine Daily Inquirer
Listed gaming firm IP E-Games Ventures Inc. is gearing up for more acquisitions, leading to an exponential rise in annual revenues in two to three years.
In a statement on Friday, the country’s only listed online gaming firm said it would focus on expanding its network of Internet cafés across the country and add more games to its list of titles.
“IP E-Games has a pipeline of acquisitions that will be completed in the second half of this year, which will further drive revenue and earnings growth,” the company said.
Before the end of the year, the company expects to complete its takeover of the CyBr and IT Log chain of Internet cafés. Together with the operations of the Netopia Internet café chain, which the company acquired earlier this year, IP E-Games expects to end the year with about 160 branches.
In the next three years, IP E-Games said its plan to continue acquiring more Internet cafés would bring its total number of branches to 1,000.
“The company is also very close to finalizing a major content acquisition deal for the Philippines and Southeast Asia,” IP E-Games said. The company said the acquisition would “change the landscape of Philippine gaming.”
Through these various acquisitions, IP E-Games said it expected to post P5 billion in annual revenues by 2014.
“The company is confident that it will be able to achieve its expansion goals, especially since funding sources are in place. This will catapult IP E-Games into one of the top retailers in the country in terms of reach and size,” the company said.
More than 70 percent of all Filipino users access the web through Internet cafés, with home connections and device prices still beyond the reach of most Filipino households.
IP E-Games recently posted a net income of P36.32 million in the first half of the year, up by over 8,000 percent year on year.
The gaming firm was recently given a “buy” rating from two local brokerage firms, namely, Abacus Securities Corp. and PCCI Securities Brokers Corp. “Both (firms) expressed their confidence that IP E-Games shows potential to become the largest consumer Internet firm in the country,” the company said.
IP E-Games shares rose to P32.50 per share on Friday, nearly double its value of P15.56 a month before.
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Tags: acquisitions , Business , Gaming , revenues
