ePLDT revenues up 2% to P7.6 B in 9 mos on strong peso

ePLDT, the information and communications technology arm of telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) reported service revenues of P7.6 billion in the first nine months of 2008, a two-percent increase from the P7.4-billion recorded in the same period last year.

Company officials pointed out that ePLDT’s revenues and performance for the period reflected the unfavorable effects of the strong appreciation of the peso, as approximately 77 percent of its service revenues are denominated in dollars.

As a result of this effect and combined with higher operating expenses, ePLDT’s earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell to P671 million in the first nine months of 2008 from P821 million in the same period last year.

EBITDA margin declined correspondingly to nine percent compared with 11 percent in 2007. ePLDT’s revenues account for seven percent of PLDT’s consolidated revenues.

Consolidated customer interaction services (or call center) revenues grew six percent to P2.5 billion despite the appreciation of the peso. ePLDT Ventus, the umbrella brand for ePLDT’s customer interactive business, now operates seven customer interaction service facilities with combined seats of nearly 6,500 and an employee base of close to 7,000.

SPi Technologies (SPi), ePLDT’s knowledge processing arm (business process outsourcing or BPO), generated revenues of P3.9 billion in the first nine months of 2008.

Officials also revealed that revenues in the publishing and medical billing verticals were broadly in line with expectations while the medical transcription and legal businesses continue to underperform.

Data center revenues from Vitro Data Center improved 35 percent to P518 million in the first nine months of 2008 compared with P384 million in the same period in 2007.

“We continue to manage the challenges faced by some of our verticals. We have a number new contracts in our pipeline which should support an improvement in our margins in the coming quarters,” ePLDT president and CEO Ray Espinosa said. – Mary Ann Reyes