Class action lawsuit filed vs execs–pldt

PLDT Inc. said Tuesday it has “learned” that a class action lawsuit was filed against its executives in relation to the P48billion “budget overrun” it incurred.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, PLDT said the lawsuit was started by “Sophia Olsson, a purported holder of PLDT securities, in the United States federal district court in the Central District of California.”

Referencing a report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, PLDT said the complaint named “PLDT and nine of its current or former employees” as defendants. The telco did not reveal the names of the nine employees.

“The company has not been served with a copy of the complaint, as required under US law, and does not have any further information regarding the lawsuit at this time,” the disclosure read.

To recall, PLDT announced in late December that it incurred a budget overrun of P48 billion, which “involves the procurement of network equipment necessary to provide stronger connectivity to subscribers, specifically 5G cell sites for our mobile network and fiber rollout.”

The amount represents 12.7 percent of PLDT’S total capex spend of P379 billion over the last four years.

PLDT has since launched internal forensics that have “thus far uncovered no fraud, no anomalies, no evidence of overpricing, and no unrecorded transactions in relation to the overrun.”

Shares in PLDT remained unchanged at P1,326 apiece on Tuesday.

The company said its net income in January to September 2022 reached P27.4 billion, up 45 percent year-on-year. This includes P22.3 billion in pre-tax gains from the towers sale up to the third closing. Core income, excluding the impact of asset sales and Voyager Innovations, grew to P25.4 billion in the same period.

Consolidated service revenues increased by 4.5 percent to a ninemonth all-time high of P141.9 billion, as consumers thrived on their digital lifestyles in the new normal.

In the same period, consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose by 6 percent to P75.4 billion, also an all-time high.