ABS-CBN unfazed by decline in 9-month profit

MANILA, Philippines–ABS-CBN Corp., the media holding company of the Lopez Group, reported that profits in the nine months to September dipped due to the absence of election-related spending.

But the broadcast company noted that it was still on track to match last year’s profit of P2 billion.

In a stock exchange filing on Tuesday, ABS-CBN said that net income for the first three quarters of 2014 hit P1.54 billion—14 percent lower than that of the same period last year.

Removing the effects of political advertisements, ABS-CBN said profit was up 29 percent.

Revenues reached P25.1 billion—1.3 percent lower than that of last year. On a recurring basis, ABS-CBN said the figure had increased 4 percent.

“The performance of the group for the first nine months has been steady. Our consumer business, led by Star Cinema’s movie releases which generated more than P2 billion in ticket sales, grew by 7.5 percent,” Aldrin Cerrado, the company’s chief financial officer, said in a statement.

“Channel 2 has maintained its leadership in terms of national audience shares and ratings, and SkyCable’s revenues have shown steady growth, with broadband revenues increasing steeply by 38 percent compared to the same period in 2013. I remain confident that we will meet our full-year financial targets.”

The company’s costs and expenses increased by only 1 percent compared to that of the same period last year, while total assets rose to P67 billion as of end of September from P58.0 billion of last year.

Its equity base rose to P26.9 billion from P25.9 billion in 2013.

“In the meantime, we are excited to roll out our digital set-top boxes, pending the release of the implementing rules and regulations by the government. We are also looking forward to the opening of Kidzania at the Fort Bonifacio Global City next year,” said Rolando Valdueza, Group CFO.