Globe secures P7-B 8-year loan from BDO

MANILA, Philippines - Globe Telecom Inc. has signed an eight-year term loan facility worth P7 billion with BDO Unibank Inc. to fund this year’s capital expenditures.

“The loan shall be used to finance the company’s capital expenditures and general corporate requirements,” the Ayala-led telco said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday.

Globe has earmarked $750 million capex for this year.

The bulk of this year’s capex will be spent on data-related projects including investments for deployment of LTE (Long Term Evolution) mobile and LTE @Home, increased network capacities, modernization of fixed line data infrastructure for corporates and requirements for transmission facilities.

Globe posted a record high core net income of P16.01 billion in 2015, supported by all-time high revenue.

Core net income which excludes the impact of non-recurring charges, foreign exchange and mark-to-market changes, grew six percent from P15.13 billion in 2015.

The telco’s consolidated service revenue hit a fresh peak of P120 billion last year outpacing the previous record level of P113.68 billion in 2015 by six percent.

The telco achieved record-high revenue despite the increased competition in the market in the second-half of last year due to growth in data-related products across all segments.

Earlier, Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said he expects the company to maintain its growth trajectory this year as it continues to invest in the network.

He also said Globe’s revenues are expected to post mid-single digit growth this year.