ABS-CBN earnings up 15% in 1st qtr

With the continued improvement in advertising revenues and international operations, media giant ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. reported a 15.4-percent growth in its first quarter income this year to P124.09 million, from only P107.55 million in the same period a year ago.

In a press briefing yesterday, ABS-CBN chief financial officer Randolph Estrellado said airtime and other broadcasting related revenues rose seven percent to P2.41 billion while net sales and services jumped 38 percent to P1.02 billion, from P744 million last year.

ABS-CBN Global remained as the major contributor to net sales and services with net revenues reaching P705 million, or an increase of 29 percent from the previous year’s level. The improvement was attributed to the 25 percent growth of its subscriber base which has reached 1.39 million viewers worldwide as of end-March this year.

Estrellado said the revenue growth was also due to the 15 percent increase in the monthly direct-to-home (DTH) cable fees to $23, which was implemented in the second quarter of 2003.

Other broadcasting-related revenues, consisting mainly of SMS or text-based revenues, slightly increased to P74 million.

Estrellado said other subsidiaries pumped in P320 million in revenues or an increase of 61 percent from the year ago level, mainly due to ABS-CBN Films which contributed P98 million to net sales and services.

Operating expenses, on the other hand, climbed 17 percent to P2.67 billion from P2.28 billion while production cost, which accounted for 42 percent of cash operating expenses, went up by 15 percent to P911 million.

Estrellado expects the broadcasting firm to sustain its income growth for the rest of the year, especially with the growth in advertising revenues coming from political advertisements related to he May 10 elections.

As of end-March this year, ABS-CBN has P1.3 billion in cash, sufficient to fund the balance of its maturing debts.

In March, the media giant settled P904 million in maturing debt. As a result, loans went down to P4.9 billion, from P6.285 billion in March 2003.

ABS-CBN expects to conclude negotiations with a group of banks for a $120 million loan facility within the month. The loan is expected to carry a maturity of five years.