iVantage sees earnings surge

Tech stock iVantage Corp. will continue to expand its network of service-oriented companies in information technology (IT) as company officials forecast earnings to surge six times to P660 million in two years’ time.

iVantage president Dave de Leon said that based on the impressive growth in their first quarter performance, the investment holding company is now better positioned to attain its medium-term profit goal.

He said the three-year strategic plan mapped out by the company’s key executives will deal with identifying income opportunities in the field of IT, coupled with quarterly revenue and profit target management.

"We have employed a basic management and control system to keep track of how our nine companies are performing. The system also includes prudent expense management and accountabilities," De Leon said.

Initial projections point to consolidated earnings of P117 million and P200 million for 2001 and 2002, respectively, for five companies under iVantage – Nexus Technologies, Wordtext Systems, Jupiter Systems, E-Business Services and Lucky Star.

The last two entities were acquired only last year. iVantage acquired 51 percent of Lucky Star, a wholly-owned subsidiary of property firm Belle Corp., which is engaged in online data communications for the nationwide jai-alai betting stations. Lucky Star has an estimated net asset value of P320 million.

After only a week, iVantage purchased E-Business Services Inc., Asia’s biggest direct agent of Western Union’s money transfer operations, from the APC group, another Belle subsidiary, for P200 million.

iVantage, controlled by industrialist Ben Tiu of International Exchange Bank (iBank), shares a common set of shareholders with Belle Corp., namely the Ocier group and the SM group. – Conrado Diaz Jr.