IPVG profits surge as its BPO, online gaming units post strong results

MANILA, Philippines - Technology company IPVG said earnings surged by more than half as its units in online gaming, internet services, and communications posted strong results. From July to September, IPVG’s net income after taxes soared to P130.865 million, 72 percent more than the P76.166 million it earned during the same period last year, the company said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). Gross revenues for the period grew nearly three times, or 242 percent, to P950.473 million, compared to the P277.602 it collected during the three month period last year. Earnings after taxes climbed 40 percent to P167.557 million from P119.677 million during the January-September period last year. For the same period, consolidated revenues climbed P2.722 billion, 354 percent more than the P556.726 million reported last year. The company’s businesses all across the board reported higher results, especially during the third quarter when its business process outsourcing unit—IP Contact Center Outsourcing (IPCCO)—partnered with Canadian, Australian, and Vietnamese companies. IPVG’s BPO operations reported P1.66 billion in revenues for the first nine months, comprising 61 percent of the company’s consolidated revenues. Also contributing to the company’s income hike is IPVG’s internet bandwidth service provider, IP Converge. The company generated some P385.5 million in revenues from January to September after it partnered with two telecommunications companies. Meanwhile, IP e-Games Ventures Inc., its online gaming unit, contributed some P377.34 in revenues. Currently, its online games have an estimated nine million registered players, with 81,000 users at any given time. “Despite the challenging global macro-environment, we believe the sectors we are in (communications, games and BPO) are fairly resilient," Enrique Y. Gonzalez, IPVG President and chief executive officer, said. “We have in fact begun to see a greater interest from companies located in USA, UK and Australia to increase the amount of work they off-shore as a means of further reducing costs and staying globally competitive." A separate IPVG unit, IP e-Game Ventures, and GMA New Media Inc., a subsidiary of GMA Network Inc., entered into a joint venture called I-Play Online Games Inc. The venture recently secured a license to market, sell, and provide technical support to Philippine users of NBA Street Online. Media Merge Corp., which runs GMANews.TV, is subsumed under GMA New Media Inc. - RJAB Jr, GMANews.TV