Benpres reports 91.8% drop in 1st quarter profit

Benpres Holdings Corp., the listed holding firm of the Lopez family, reported a 91.8 percent drop in net profit to P60 million in the first three months of this year largely due to the weak performances of First Philippine Holdings Corp. and ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.

In a financial report filed with securities regulators, Benpres said equity in net earnings of investees decreased by 52.5 percent to P300 million from P632 million. Also contributing to the decline was the accretion on earnings and interest on notes which fell 28 percent to P28 million from P193 million as ABS-CBN had a difficult first quarter.

Aside from these, foreign exchange adjustments resulted in a loss of P79 million as compared to a gain of P159 million the previous level. The peso weakened to 41.76 to a dollar in March 2008 from 41.28 in end-December last year.

Net profit of ABS-CBN fell 14 percent to P243 million from P282 million due to the absence of license fees generated from DirecTV in the first quarter this year. Total revenues rose by only three percent to P4.26 billion on the back of a four-percent growth in airtime revenues and three percent rise in sale of services.

FPHC’s net earnings went down by 79 percent to P219 million from P1.04 billion as revenues slipped 39 percent due to lower equity in net earnings of subsidiaries. Contributions from First Gen fell 60 percent as interest charges, foreign exchange losses and lower earnings from operating units took their oil.

Benpres registered unaudited consolidated revenues of P4.25 billion, 1.7 percent higher than the previous level of P4.18 billion.

Sky Cable, meanwhile, reported a 55 percent jump in net profit to P54 million, helped by a 23-percent growth in airtime revenues and a two-percent decrease in operating expenses. Programming costs increased by 20 percent but better accounts management reduced provisions for doubtful accounts by eight percent and other expenses by nine percent.

Bayan Telecommunications, however, widened its net loss to P684 million from a meager P9 million last year due to foreign exchange losses as the peso weakened against the dollar. Revenues increased by 26 percent to P1.6 billion driven by voice, primarily its Bayan Wireless Landline product and data revenues.

Meanwhile, First Philippine Infrastructure Inc. reported a six percent decrease in net profit to P317 million from P337 million as cost of services increased by four percent amid flat revenues.

Rockwell Land Inc., however, had a strong first quarter with net earnings rising 37 percent to P178 million from P130 million. Revenues grew 63 percent to P1.4 billion from P829 million. The bulk of revenues came from sales of One Rockwell while retail operations grew a modest nine percent.

As of end-March this year, Benpres had total assets of P49.91 billion as against liabilities of P28 billion. Unaudited total equity stood at P16.285 billion as the 2007 yearend deficit was reduced by 4.6 percent to P3.215 billion.