ABS-CBN Corp. expects to post nearly P3 billion in net income this year despite a 20-percent drop in earnings in the first nine months of the year.
“We’re already at P2.3 billion. So, we are looking at least closer to P3 billion,” ABS-CBN chief financial officer Aldrin Cerrado said over the weekend.
The company’s profit guidance for this year is between P2.7 billion and P3 billion.
ABS-CBN reported a net profit of P2.3 billion in the first nine months of the year, down 20 percent from P2.85 billion year-on-year.
Advertising revenues reached P15.3 billion in the first nine months of the year, or 3 percent lower than P15.8 billion on year, net of election-related spending.
The decline in the recurring ad sales was tempered by an 11 percent increase in consumer sales to P14.2 billion.
The robust growth in consumer sales was driven by strong demand for ABS-CBN TVplus digital boxes and an increase in Sky’s Direct-to-Home and broadband subscription revenues.
The company in February 2015 launched its Digital Terrestrial Television initiative, pioneering the country’s transition from analog to digital transmission. Approximately 36 percent of households in Mega Manila now have DTT boxes, while the figure for Metro Manila is about 40 percent.
The company sold a cumulative total of over 3.6 million DTT boxes at end-September.
Sky’ Cable Inc.’s revenue in the first three quarters of 2017 rose 7 percent to P6.8 billion from P6.4 billion over the same period last year. The revenue increase was attributed to the growing number of Sky’s broadband and DTH subscribers.
“We expect the strong take-up in our DTH and broadband services to continue as we invest in expanding and upgrading our network,” ABS-CBN Group chief financial officer Ron Valdueza said.
Valdueza said the sharp increase in the number of DTT households also helped boost audience share.
“ABS-CBN continues to be the leader in national audience share and ratings, with 51.7 percent total national audience share, based on Kantar Media TV Audience Measurement as of end September 2017,” he said.
Kidzania, the company’s educational theme park, earned P324 million in revenues from over 224,000 visitors since the beginning of the year. Kidzania expects more visitors in the coming months as the holiday season approaches.