PLDT sees 2006 profit to reach P35B

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company’s 2006 net profit is expected to reach P35 billion if its transactions with Aces international, Ltd. would be completed this month, PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said Wednesday. “I believe we said in November that our guidance was for our core income to be up from P29 billion in 2005 to P31.5 billion in 2006," Pangilinan said. “Now, reported income is a function of whether we could close Aces Satellite by mid-January of this year. I believe there's a good chance we can." Pangilinan said PLDT is hopeful of closing the deal this month and “then the reported income will be approximately P35-billion in 2006 versus P34-billion in 2005." If the deal won’t push through, Pangilinan said PLDT’s reported income would be around P33-billion for 2006. “Our numbers could go down because there are quite a number of significant exceptional items in 2005 principally like foreign exchange gains and certain recognition of refurbished tax assets," Pangilinan explained. From January to September 2006, PLDT’s net income already reached P25.7 billion. Earlier, Pangilinan said the company was prepared to "write off" its mobile satellite business through Aces International. Aces was created under a consortium of Pasifik Satelit Nusantara of Indonesia, Philippine Long Distance Telephone, Aces Regional Service in Thailand and Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications. "We're closing our transactions with Aces," said Pangilinan. "This will give Aces a wider scope." PLDT has invested around P3 billion in the mobile phone satellite company, and is expecting to write off around P2 billion pesos, he added. In another development, Pangilinan said PLDT will announce this month a temporary replacement for Antonio Cojuangco, who earlier resigned as a director of the company. “We will have to find a replacement for him temporarily. The board has to elect his temporary replacement. We’ll have a regular meeting this month," Pangilinan said. A permanent replacement will be known in June or during the annual stockholders’ meeting of PLDT. Cojuangco left his position as a board director after the Supreme Court awarded to the government a disputed stake in the Philippine Telecommunications Investment Corp. -GMANews.TV