Telecom services provider Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp (PT&T) has said it is confident it will be in a position to resume trading on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) before the end of the year, as it looks to improve its bid to become the country’s new third telco. GMA News notes a company filing yesterday (30 August) in which PT&T confirmed it had ‘completed all the requirements set by the PSE on lifting the voluntary trading suspension covering 800 million common shares’. Chief operating officer Miguel Bitanga says that having met the brief, it should now be allowed ‘to resume trading and enact future plans of the new shareholders and management team’. The PSE had compelled PT&T to provide evidence that it is ‘in good financial health’ and has made good on ‘the settlement of arrears or penalties under the previous management team during the rehabilitation years’.
In August 2017 Menlo Capital Corp, jointly owned by Nickel Asia Corp founder Salvador Zamora II and businessman Benjamin Bitanga, acquired a substantial stake in PT&T from Republic Telecommunications Holdings Inc. and wasted little time in setting out their goals to re-establish the company on the PSE, raise fresh capital, expand its broadband and data business, and possibly help its bid for the third major telco player. ‘Whether from a perspective of compliance to the PSE or based on purely economic/market driven benefits, there should be no reason why the company should be prevented from bringing the publicly traded shares into play again, and eventually raising capital to fund future plans, both within and outside of the fixed broadband space,’ Bitanga is quoted as saying.
PT&T reported net income of PHP37 million (USD692,000) in its fiscal year to end-June 2018, swinging from a net loss of PHP27 million in the same period last year. Net operating revenue amounted to PHP211 million, up 55% from PHP136 million, thanks it said to it signing up new customers. PT&T holds a 25-year franchise to establish, maintain, and operate both wired and wireless telecommunications systems for domestic and international communications in the Philippines.