Globe gears up for coming battle with China telco
Globe is girding up for the impending entry of stateowned China Telecom and its well-connected Davao partners.
Globe Telecom president Ernest Cu said the Zobels and partner Singapore Telecommunications have decided to cut down the dividend policy to 60-75 percent starting next year from the current 75-90 percent.
In addition, Globe has amended its bond trust indentures to adjust the maximum debt-to-equity ratio from 2.5:1 to 3:1, preparatory to borrowing some more to fund higher capital expenditures.
“The amended policy will provide Globe with increased flexibility with respect to capital management,” Cu said.
“This adjustment will also ensure the sustainability of the operations in this investment-heavy environment, while protecting future dividends, once planned expansion yields beneficial results.”
Globe said it spent around P32.5 billion in capital expenditures for the first nine months of this year to support the growing subscriber base and address its rapidly changing and rising demand for data.
The investment amounts to nearly 32 percent of topline revenues, among the highest in the region, Globe said.
The Globe announcement from the coming challenge from the Chinese consortium, which declared that it shall spend P140 to 240 billion in capital expenditures over five years as it rolls out its communication infrastructure nationwide, part of Beijing’s soft diplomatic offensive under the One Belt, One Road program.
Wednesday’s announcement that the Chinese-Dennis Uy consortium had been selected as the country’s provisional third telco provider goosed up Uy’s Chelsea Logistics, with its share price spiking over 28 percent to close at P8.50.
Chelsea was still trading higher yesterday at the P8.62P9.70 range, but still under water from its last year’s IPO price of P10.68.
Money talks
• Toyota dealer Jose “Doyong” Tan Jr. is on a roll, opening yesterday his seventh showroom in Subic in partnership with taipan George Ty’s GT Capital Auto Dealership Holdings.
• Ilocos Sur political kingpin Luis “Chavit” Singson has channeled his penchant for vehicles and his mainland China connections by venturing into auto dealership with the Guangzhou Automobile Corp. (GAC).
No less than DU30 himself was the guest of honor for the dealership launch.
• Jollibee treasurer Joseph Tanbuntiong picked up P1.7 million in pre-Thanksgiving money after flipping 10,000 in optioned shares he received last Monday.
Note to readers
Our apologies for this truncated column. We lost internet connection for the second day in a row. Both Smart and Globe apparently automatically cut the connection once a postpaid subscriber breaches his data limit, even if the subscriber is on auto-debit payment scheme.
Apparently, both telco providers also do not allow online top-up for emergency/additional load if the subscriber is on a post-paid plan.
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