ABS-CBN income slumps in Q2

ABS-CBN Corp. reported a 61% drop in net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company during the second quarter, dragged by higher production costs.

In a regulatory filing, ABSCBN said its attributable net income fell to P397.35 million during the April to June period, from P1.03 billion during the same period a year ago.

This brought the sixmonth attributable income to P849.88 million, 41% lower than the P1.45 billion posted a year ago.

Second quarter revenues inched up 1.6% to P9.925 billion, bringing the first half total to P18.936 billion — 2% lower than a year ago.

Advertising revenues went up 4% to P5.23 billion in the April to June period. For the first half, advertising revenues fell 3% to P9.57 billion, while consumer sales dipped 1% to P9.35 billion.

“Advertising revenues decreased by P302 million or 3.1% lower, attributable to fewer advertising placements from first half of 2018. Consumer sales decreased by P106 million mainly resulting from lower theatrical receipts from Global and ABS-CBN Films and lower revenue from Sky Cable’s cable business,” ABSCBN said.

Expenses increased by 4% during the first half to P18.494 billion from last year’s P17.783 billion. This was mainly due to a 9% rise in production costs to P6.45 billion.

“The increase (in production cost) was due the growth in depreciation and amortization expenses by P10 million and P90 million, respectively, year-on year. The Company’s facilitiesrelated expenses and employee related costs grew also by P271 million or 15% increase yearon-year,” the Lopez-led media giant said.

By business segment, ABS-CBN reported its media networks and studio entertainment business saw a 33% drop in net income to P1.01 billion during the first half, as operating revenues slipped by 3% to P13.45 billion.

On the other hand, the cable, satellite and broadband business under Sky Cable slumped to a net loss of P81 million, as operating revenues fell by 3.6% to P4.4 billion.

“The decrease in Sky’s performance was triggered by the decrease in cable subscriber count by 80,000. In total, subscriber count of Sky increased by 168,000, significantly attributable to direct-to-home subscribers,” the company said.

Shares in ABS-CBN added 15 centavos or 0.61% to P24.55 each on Monday. —