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MANILA - Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. said its performance in the second quarter was on track.
"It will be broadly in line with our guidance," PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the search for the 2012 Ten Outstanding Young Men.
The telecom giant’s core profit, which excludes exceptional or one-off items, is expected to hit P37 billion in 2012, lower than the P39 billion last year.
In the first three months, its core net income fell 12 percent year-on-year to P9.3 billion.
By 2014, core profit is seen to return to P42 billion, matching its record earnings in 2010.
The target takes into account the impact of the purchase of Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. last year, but not the potential acquisition of GMA Network Inc.
Asked if the GMA7 acquisition will prompt the dominant telco to revise its guidance, Pangilinan said: "We don't know yet. It's supposed to. Why will we make the investment 'di ba?"
The value of the purchase will be "more than the existing market capitalization" of GMA7 at P33.95 billion, Pangilinan said. However, the group is not contemplating on raising equity or debt at the PLDT level to finance the acquisition, he said.
Talks with the families that own GMA7 are ongoing, but it will be “difficult to predict” when the acquisition will be sealed, the PLDT chair said.
The acquisition may “most likely” be coursed through MediaQuest Holdings Inc. Another vehicle may be ePLDT Inc. because of the broadcast company's Philippine Depositary Receipts, Pangilinan said.
TV5 and its online news portal, InterAksyon.com, are owned by MediaQuest, a member of the PLDT Group.
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