PLC earmarks P500M to buy back shares

Tourist and casino players arrive at the grand opening of the City of Dreams mega-casino in Manila on February 2, 2015. Six gleaming golden towers surrounding a giant egg-shaped dome opened as the Philippines’ newest playground for the obscenely rich on Feb. 2, dwarfing the capital’s vast slums. AFP PHOTO/JAY DIRECTO

Premium Leisure Corp. (PLC), the gaming investment arm of Belle Corp., seeks to perk up shareholder value by setting aside P500 million to buy back shares from the stock market.

PLC has obtained approval from its board to pursue the stock repurchase program. The actual number of shares to be repurchased cannot be determined yet as this will depend on the total buy-back price of the shares, PLC told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday.

“There is no specific timetable for the effectivity of the buy-back program and management at its discretion will act on the timing and buying levels as it deems fit,” the disclosure said.

Companies buy back shares from the stock market when they deem that share prices are undervalued. However, only companies with retained earnings are allowed to buy back shares.

Once PLC buys back shares, these will be lodged as treasury shares. To date, PLC has no treasury-held shares.

“The buy-back program shall be implemented in an orderly manner and should not adversely affect the company’s and its subsidiaries’ prospective and existing projects,” the company assured.

PLC is currently valued by the stock market at P39.2 billion, lower than Melco Resorts & Entertainment Corp., the local unit of Macau-based casino giant Melco, which has a market capitalization of P44.2 billion.

PLC has an operating agreement with Melco entitles it to a 50-percent share of gaming revenue from integrated gaming resort City of Dreams Manila. The company also generates revenue from equipment lease rentals, commission and distribution income through its 50.1-percent owned subsidiary, Pacific Online Systems Corp.