050907: PLDT profit flat in first quarter,sees high-end of '07 core

May 08, 2007
Updated 11:06:45 (Mla time)

Reuters

MANILA, Philippines -- Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), the country's largest listed company, said on Tuesday its first quarter profit was flat year on year, helped by sustained wireless phone growth and rising data services revenue.

PLDT, the country's most valuable listed company with a market value of $10 billion, said its core earnings, which strips out currency and derivative gains, was up 11 percent to 8.4 billion pesos ($177 million) in the quarter from the same period last year.

The company, partly owned by Hong Kong's First Pacific Co. Ltd. and Japan's NTT group, said it had net income of P8.58 billion in the first quarter, the same level as a year earlier.

Analysts forecast PLDT's net profit at P34.99 billion this year, nearly flat from P35.1 billion in 2006, according to Reuters Estimates.

PLDT said core earnings in the year would come in at the high end of a projected P32-33 billion.

The company, Asia's tenth largest mobile phone operator, is trying to diversify its broadband and data services to fuel growth as its historically profitable mobile phone business faces a maturing domestic market.

PLDT is expected to benefit from higher mobile phone usage in the second quarter in the run-up to the May congressional polls.

Shares of PLDT slid 0.39 percent to P2,555 after the company's results announcement while the main index climbed 0.45 percent.

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