|
MONEY-transfer firm iRemit said it would buy back some
of its shares.
In a
disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm
said its board of directors approved the proposal to buy
back 10 million of its shares. iRemit shares closed at
P4.10 apiece on Wednesday.
In a
separate filing, iRemit said it posted P71.06 million
in profits for the first half of the year, up 63.5
percent from P43.5 million a year earlier.
Revenue
went up 62 percent to P141.4 million on the back of a
40-percent increase in delivery fees. The firm also
booked P167.3 million in net foreign exchange gains.
iRemit
has presence in 25 countries worldwide through
subsidiaries and tie-ups. It has a total of 2,814 payout
stations in the Philippines.
Data
from the central bank show that bank remittances by
overseas Filipinos reached $1.5 billion in June, up 30
percent year-on-year, the highest on record since 1989.
Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr.
attributed the increase to a sustained rise in the
deployment of Filipinos overseas.
He said
the level of remittances also rose because of the
“expanded presence” of local banks and nonbank
remittance channels in countries with a large
concentration of overseas Filipino workers.
The US,
Saudi Arabia, the UK, Italy, the United Arab Emirates,
Canada, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong are the major
sources of remittances for the Philippines.
Czeriza Valencia |
