GLOBE Telecom Inc. (PSE: GLO) signaled on Monday it expects its core business to post “mid-single digit” growth this year, “despite the major macroeconomic headwinds” that it forecasts in 2023.
GLO Chief Finance Officer Rosemarie Maniego-Eala said the publicly-listed company aims to sustain a similar top line growth rate from 2022 to 2023, even as the firm slows down on capital spending while optimizing its current network utilization rates.
GLO recorded a 4-percent increase in service revenues to a record high of P158 billion in 2022 from P152.3 billion in 2021, driven by mobile and corporate data services and increased revenue contribution of non-telco subsidiaries.
Aside from this, the company is looking at maintaining its 50-percent margin for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) this year.
“We have a guidance of revenue growth of mid-single digit in 2023. It is the same guidance that we had in 2022, despite the major macroeconomic headwinds we are facing this year,” Eala, also the firm’s Chief Risk Officer, said. “We, likewise, gave guidance of maintaining our 50-percent Ebitda margin, which we will deliver by following through on our cost management initiatives.”
GLO’s Ebitda inched up by six percent to an all-time high of P79.1 billion last year from P74.9 billion in 2021, with an Ebitda margin of 50 percent from 49 percent in 2021.
Eala noted that GLO is expecting to post more gains from the proceeds of its tower sale and leaseback initiative this year, with the balance of the towers to be turned over progressively over the next few quarters.
To recall, GLO jump-started its tower-sale-and-leaseback program in August 2022, selling over 7,000 towers to MIESCOR Infrastructure Development Corp. (MIDC), Frontier Tower Associates Philippines Inc. and PhilTower Consortium Inc. to improve its balance sheet health and finance its capital expenditures.
So far, GLO has raised around P39 billion from the transactions.
Eala added that GLO is also “focusing its efforts on free cash flow sustainability,” setting a lower capital expenditure (capex) program of $1.3 billion in 2023 from $1.9 billion the year prior.
It is further reducing its capex level for 2024, aiming to hit only $1 billion next year.
Eala assured that this optimization of capital spending and cash flow improvements “will not be at the expense of service quality as the company will continue with its commitment to deliver a world-class network and an industry-leading customer experience.”
GLO reported a 46-percent rise in net income in 2022 to P34.6 billion from P23.7 billion the year prior, recognizing its gains from the sale of its data center business, as well as the execution of the first few tranches of the sale and leaseback of its tower assets.