MANILA, Philippines?Publicly listed technology firm IPVG Corp. reported that its net income rose 16 percent to P50.51 million in the first half of the year, net of a P45.4-million one-time financing charge arising from acquisition of business process outsourcing (BPO) business in the United States.

Net income growth would have been 121 percent without the one-time charge, it said.

Net revenue jumped 498 percent to P1.79 billion, IPVG chief executive Enrique Gonzales said, adding that the company was on target to achieve its full-year revenue target of P3.3 billion.

The BPO division contributed 60 percent of the total revenue, the communications group 24 percent, and the content segment the remainder, the company said.

Gonzales said earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 233 percent between the first half of 2007 and 2008.

?This shows how much cash was generated by our businesses,? he said. ?And we expect better overall performance in the second half because the one-time charge in our BPO business will not be there and our new acquisitions such as [content provider] Megamobile will be launching services.?

Gonzales said IPVG was not really affected by the global economic slowdown, except for a more cautious stance on acquisitions. ?Acquisition is not our No. 1 priority now, partly because our focus now is integrating those we have acquired,? he said. ?Also, the kind of financing required for mega-purchases like those we tried last year are harder to come by in today?s market.?

Gonzales added, ?We may not replicate the 68,161-percent year-on-year growth in our BPO sector, because that is coming from a very small base. But we still see double- or triple-digit growth across all our businesses.?

He said IPVG was also counting on new premium games to be launched in the second half. He said first on the lineup was NBA Street Online, which is to be launched Friday. Riza T. Olchondra; edited by INQUIRER.net