ePLDT service revenues up 5% in first half

MANILA, Philippines - ePLDT, the information and communications technology arm of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. Group, reported service revenues of P5.2 billion in the first half of 2009, an increase of five percent from the same period last year.

ePLDT’s earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased to P511 million in the first six months of 2009 as compared with P493 million in the same period last year, mainly due to the favorable impact of the depreciation of the peso, offset by higher cash operating expenses

EBITDA margin at 10 percent was flat relative to the same period last year but higher than the eight percent recorded in the first three months of 2009. ePLDT’s revenues account for seven percent of PLDT’s consolidated revenues.

Customer interaction services (call center) revenues grew two percent to P1.7 billion. ePLDT Ventus, the umbrella brand for ePLDT’s customer interaction business, now operates six customer interaction service facilities with combined seats of close to 6,500 and an employee base of over 6,300.

SPi Technologies, Inc., ePLDT’s knowledge processing arm (business process outsourcing), generated revenues of P2.5 billion in the first half of 2009, approximately the same amount as the same period last year.

At the end of 2008, SPi chose to wind down the operations of its underperforming electronic discovery data (EDD) business in its legal vertical. Revenues and EBITDA margins in the publishing and medical billing verticals continue to be broadly in line with expectations. In addition to the Philippines and the USA, SPi has operations in India and Vietnam.

“Global uncertainties in the last few months have led to longer time for decision-making.

Nonetheless, businesses are back to focusing on creating value by looking at cost efficiencies, including outsourcing. Slowly but surely, we are making headway in our goal of lifting SPi’s financial performance,“ ePLDT president and CEO Ray Espinosa said.

He added that they continue to focus on improving various operating metrics while looking out for new business opportunities. “Vitro continues to be a bright spot as it sustains its significant revenue growth trend,” he added.