ABS-CBN sees 10% earnings growth in 2008

Television giant ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. expects its earnings this year to rise 10 percent from a year ago, with the growth to be driven mainly by stronger product sales.
ABS-CBN head for corporate planning and investor relations Charles Gamo said they are seeing a net profit of P1.4 billion for 2008 as the strong performances of ABS-CBN Global, which runs The Filipino Channel, and Skycable fuel direct sales.
ABS-CBN's net profit in 2007 amounted to P1.27 billion.
"We're expecting sustained growth for ABS-CBN Global since overseas Filipinos still want to keep home entertainment as they cut back on other expenses," said Gamo.
"The peso depreciation is also better for us because ABS-CBN Global generates dollar revenues," he added.
To shore up its bottomline, ABS-CBN also intends to keep expenses under tight control, Gamo noted.
While the company remains bullish on growth for the rest of 2008, it is adopting a cautious stance moving forward.
Gamo said ABS-CBN's net income next year could reach P1.4-1.45billion, almost the same as the projection for this year. He said airtime revenues are expected to be flat as advertisers limit their spending on expectations of a more challenging business climate in 2009.
"But we are hopeful that the scenarios next year would be better than what we expect," Gamo stated.
In the third quarter of the year, ABS-CBN posted a 23 percent jump in profits to P447million as revenues grew 18.86 percent to P6.3 billion. Direct sales also went up 73percent to P2.54 billion during the quarter.
ABS-CBN is spending P1.7 billion next year for the replacement and upgrade of production and broadcast equipment, transmission network expansion and program rights acquisition.
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