Media and entertainment company ABS-CBN Corporation reported a 25% increase in its net income for 2013 of PHP2.028 billion, compared to P1.618 billion for 2012. The company’s strong performance came on the back of a 15% rise in net revenues of P33.4 billion, compared to P28.9 billion for the previous year.
“Our company’s solid financial performance for 2013 was boosted by our dominance in national ratings which allowed us to capture a bigger share of the advertising spending in the country, election-related spending, and various inititiaves within the company to be more cost-efficient,” said Aldrin M. Cerrado, the company’s Chief Financial Officer. The company reported that costs and expenses rose 11%, slower than the 15% revenue growth rate for the year.
Total assets rose to PHP57.99 billion from PHP51.3 billion in 2012, while its equity base rose from PHP19.4 billion in 2012 to PHP25.9 billion in 2013.
The company disclosed that it had forged various strategic partnerships in 2013, consistent with its overall plan to bring quality content to its customers through various platforms. The Filipino Channel’s (TFC) agreement with Orbit Showtime Network has allowed ABS-CBN to further broaden its reach to Filipinos in the Middle East, adding around 50,000 customers, while the company’s partnership with the owners of the Mars Ravelo properties will bring the popular local superheros to television sets and theaters in the Philippines and overseas. Skycable continues to dominate the cable TV business with more subscribers than its nearest competitor.
“It has been a busy and productive year, and this year may be even busier,” said CFO Cerrado. “We launched our O Shopping Channel and ABS-CBN Mobile in the fourth quarter of last year.” “These two intiatives are now in full swing, and we are currently working on an educational theme park, KidZania, which will open during the first quarter of 2015.”
According to Kantar Media, the top ten programs in 2013 for free-to-air television were all produced by ABS-CBN. The company hopes to further boost its audience share once it improves the reception of channel 2 in the Mega Manila area and Central Luzon. This should be achieved through ABS-CBN’s transition to digital terrestrial television.
Rolando P. Valdueza, Head of Corporate Services Group 2 and Group CFO stated “Our performance last year has allowed us to declare a 60 centavo per share cash dividend, payable to shareholders on May 7, 2014.” “I believe our company is on a solid growth path, and I am extremely excited about our prospects for the coming few years.”
Various international brokerage firms, including Deutsche Regis, Credit Lyonnais, and Maybank ATR Kim Eng, have included ABS-CBN in their reseach coverage, and all are positive about the company’s future prospects. ABS-CBN is one of Credit Lyonnais’ top stock picks with a target price of 52 pesos.
In photo: ABS-CBN executives Raymund Miranda, Aldrin Cerrado, Ron Valdueza, Rick Tan, and Paz Balayan
