Moody’s keeps ‘moderate risk’ rating for PLDT
Debt watcher Moody’s Ratings affirmed PLDT Inc.’s Baa2 issuer rating, which indicates moderate credit risk, as the telco giant registers strong financial standing.
Moody’s also issued a stable outlook for PDLT’s credit rating, which means the company’s creditworthiness will likely stay the same over the next 12 months.
“The affirmation of PLDT’s rating reflects its leading market position, healthy margins, and improving leverage trend,” said Nidhi Dhruv, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody’s.
The credit analytics firm noted that PLDT has a 44-percent share of mobile subscribers and more than a 50-percent share of market revenues as of end-December 2024.
Thanks to data revenues, PLDT saw its top line last year grow by 3 percent to an all-time high of P216.83 billion.
As a result, the company’s net income surged by 21 percent to P32.31 billion.
Wireless unit Smart Communications Inc. has 59 million mobile subscribers as of end-2024 while total fiber subscribers stood at 3.4 million.
PLDT Group’s fiber business caters to 18.5 million homes while the combined 5G and 45 network covers about 97 percent of the population.
Dhruv said the company’s financial position could improve with lower capital spending over the next two years but ” commitment to high shareholder returns will continue to strain cash flows.”
The Manuel Pangilinan-led company earmarked P68 billion to P73 billion in capital expenditures this year, which is lower compared to what it had spent in 2024 at P78.2 billion.
