E-games operations boost PhilWeb earnings

MANILA, Philippines—Publicly listed PhilWeb Corp. reported a robust increase in earnings for the first nine months of 2012 due to what it said were strong results from its e-Games cafes nationwide.

In a statement, the gaming firm with operations around the region said its net income during the January-to-September period increased by 24 percent to P681 million from the same period last year.

“The performance was driven by excellent results from the company’s operations, primarily in the e-Games cafes or PEGS that it operates for the [state-owned] Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.,” company president Dennis Valdes said.

The fastest growth was delivered by PhilWeb’s Asia-Pacific subsidiary, which operates scratch card businesses in Cambodia and Timor Leste and a Sweeps Center in Guam.

The Asia-Pacific region contributes 8 percent of total revenues, which drove the firm’s consolidated total revenue to P1.08 billion, or 30-percent higher than a year ago.

“We continue to focus on growing our businesses in Asia-Pacific and also our new foray into building gaming terminals both for PEGS and for nonrelated gaming businesses in the region,” Valdes said. “As we noted earlier this year, we believe that Asia-Pacific will be the driver of revenue growth for PhilWeb in the years to come.”

PhilWeb Asia-Pacific president Mike Grandinetti said the company has “just received approval from the government of Timor Leste to begin the construction of a new electronic gaming cafe in that country.”