Philippine communications company Globe Telecom saw its nine-month revenues rise 1 percent to PHP 46.9 billion, compared with PHP 46.6 billion. Sustained topline growth was underpinned by the strong performance of the broadband and fixed-line data businesses, compensating for the lower revenues from the mobile and traditional landline segments. EBITDA for the period stood at PHP 27.6 billion, down 3 percent, with EBITDA margin at 59 percent from 61 percent in 2008 as operating expenses and subsidy grew faster than revenues. Net income grew 12 percent to PHP 9.9 billion from PHP 8.8 billion a year earlier, while core net income (excluding foreign exchange and mark-to-market gains and losses and non-recurring items) was steady at PHP 9.4 billion.
The board of directors declared a special dividend of PHP 50 per share. In addition, the board resolved to amend Globe's dividend policy by increasing the payout of regular dividends from 75 percent of net income to a range of 75 to 90 percent of prior year’s net income starting in 2010.
The mobile business ended the period with 23.1 million subscribers, slightly down from 23.7 million last year. The company continued to churn out marginal subscribers acquired in earlier quarters and focused its acquisition drives towards better quality subscribers. This shift in acquisition focus has translated to some early gains, with its mass market brand TM demonstrating higher revenues and ARPUs quarter-on-quarter despite a contraction in its SIM base.
