ABS-CBN sees robust revenue hike this year

Broadcast giant ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. expects strong growth in its revenues this year as new platforms and higher advertising placements continue to stream in.

In his report during the company’s annual stockholders meeting yesterday, ABS-CBN chairman Eugenio Lopez III said that in the first three months of 2007, gross revenues already grew 16 percent to P1.3 billion, translating to a net income of P280 million, more than doubled from a year earlier.

He said average monthly revenues have registered over  P1 billion since March, buoyed by political advertisements in the run up to the May national elections.

But he added that real advertising minutes, which consist of the traditional product and service advertisements, have been flat, although “we have identified other opportunities.”

He said that the thrust this year is to increase revenues from other platforms like direct TV sales, digital television, recordings, CD sale, Internet television or the view-on-demand (VOD) platform and its new music channel in the US.

In the next five years, ABS-CBN is looking to increase revenue contribution of the other platforms to over 50 percent. Presently, two-thirds of total revenues comes from advertising revenues.

Lopez said the company is now back on track to meeting its P1-billion profit target for the year, completing its turnaround from two straight years of losses.

Meanwhile, Lopez said they are now preparing subsidiaries Central CATV and ABS-CBN Global for their respective public share offering in the next two years.

Central CATV, which operates Sky Cable, will be listed at the Philippine Stock Exchange while international unit ABS-CBN Global will be listed in either at the Singapore Stock Exchange, Hong Kong Stock Exchange or London Stock Exchange.

ABS-CBN is also completing the conversion into equity of its $30-million debt to Sky Cable. Once completed, ABS-CBN would have a 33-percent stake in the cable company.

For this year, ABS-CBN is budgeting P2.5 billion in capital expenditures, P1.5 billion of which will utilized be for maintenance and replacement of equipment while P1 billion will be used for the digital television roll-out.

Based on a study by TV Meter, ABS-CBN remains the market leader in terms of viewer ratings on an nationwide basis with a 47-percent share compared to the 35-percent share held by its closest competitor.