PLDT to get P33 billion from tower sale this year

MANILA, Philippines — Integrated telco PLDT Inc. is expected to receive nearly P33 billion from the sale and leaseback of its towers, beefing up the telco’s budget for capital expenditures for the rest of the year.

Fitch Group unit CreditSights said PLDT is expected to receive the remaining P32.6 billion from its tower sale within this year, giving the telco the financial boost it needs to recover from the budget overrun.

“We also expect PLDT to receive a further P32.6-billion of tower sales proceeds through the rest of 2023, which would provide greater financial flexibility for capex and possible deleveraging,” CreditSights said in an analysis.

Further, CreditSights believes PLDT is close to concluding its issue on capex overrun. It expects PLDT to hurdle the class action suit lodged against it in a California court due to the negligent shares held by the lead plaintiffs.

Based on records, complainants Sophia Olsson and Kevin Douglas lost a combined $262.9 in the aftermath of PLDT’s budget overspend. Olsson claimed she had owned two PLDT shares, while Douglas said he had held 35 shares in the firm.

“Seeing the small scale of the alleged losses and the low participation rate, we see a dim chance that the court will allow a formal case to be officially launched,” CreditSights said.

Moving forward, CreditSights believes the class action will inflict minimal to no damage at all to PLDT’s operations and finances.

The Fitch unit also said the telco giant should be able to steady its operations from here on after it found replacements for three of the five executives who vacated their post in April.

PLDT selected senior vice president and group controller Danny Yu as its chief financial officer and chief risk management officer in place of Annabelle Chua, who filed for early retirement. It also promoted deputy network head Roderick Santiago as network head and first vice president Bernadette Salinas as chief procurement officer.

CreditSights said PLDT should keep its credit metrics stable for the next three quarters, supported by the assumption that revenue would grow despite the economic risks. It expects the Pangilinan-led telco to benefit from its P7 billion acquisition of Sky Cable Corp.’s broadband business.

PLDT kept its profit steady at P9.02 billion in the first quarter,from P9.08 billion a year ago, as the firm pursued cost-cutting measures to weather the lingering impact of its budget overspend.