Mobile, corporate data and nontelco service revenues lifted the topline of Globe Telecom Inc. in the first three quarters of 2023 but net income was still down 27 percent during the period due to absence of one-time gain from asset sale that bloated its profits a year ago.
The Ayala-led company registered net income attributable to parent company of P19.29 billion in January to September, lower than the P26.46 billion it booked in the same period last year. For the third quarter alone, net profit was also down 27 percent to P4.97 billion.
The bottom line normalized after recording P10.51-billion gain on sale of controlling interest on its data center business in 2022.
Revenues, however, climbed by 3 percent to P121.1 billion as of end-September.
The prepaid segment drove mobile business revenues by 3 percent to P83.2 billion, while corporate data business rose by 8 percent to P13.6 billion during the nine-month period. Nontelco revenues surged by 44 percent to P4.1 billion on the back of its digital payment business, advertising technology company, shared services segment and information technology solutions unit.
“We are happy that more of the non-telco businesses are contributing to the group’s overall business growth and resilience,” Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said.
Capital expenditures
From January to September, Globe spent P54 billion in capital expenditures to fund infrastructure expansion amid the growing data requirements.
The telco giant built 833 new cell sites and upgraded 5,395 mobile sites during the period. It also deployed around 175,000 fiber-to-the-home lines.
Globe now has 5G outdoor coverage of 97.67 percent in the National Capital Region and 92.06 percent in key cities of Visayas and Mindanao after deploying 716 new 5G sites across the country. As of end-September, it has 5.2 million 5G devices logged in its network.
In September, Globe availed of a P15-billion loan from Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. to fund its capital expenditures, debt refinancing and other general corporate requirements. Latest financial report showed that Globe has long-term loans payable of P181.52 billion as of end-September.
Globe’s credit position is expected to get stronger for the rest of the year on the back of projected revenue growth and cash receipt from tower sale, according to Fitch Group unit CreditSights. It sold 7,506 telco assets, amounting to P96.4 billion, to multiple tower companies in total. INQ