ABS-CBN all set for profitable 2026
ABS-CBN Corp. is aiming to return to profitability in about 18 months as cash from the sale of its Quezon City hub and an anticipated recovery of advertising revenues soften a debt level exacerbated by its franchise shutdown.
Carlo Katigbak, president and CEO of the Lopez-led media group, said in a press briefing on Thursday they were “finally well-positioned for a turnaround” next year.
As of end 2024, ABS-CBN brought down its obligations to P16 billion from P21 billion in 2020 when it was shut down after Duterte allies in Congress voted not to renew its free TV franchise.
The content creator targets to further trim this to P12.8 billion this year.
“With the pending sale of our 3-hectare Quezon City property to Ayala Land Inc. (Ali), we expect to further reduce our debt levels to around P13 billion this year,” Katigbak said.
In February, the company announced that it had sold its 30,000-square-meter Mother Ignacia property, which houses its main building and production facilities, to Ali. The property will be turned over to the Ayala-led company by December next year.
Katigbak said their operations would be consolidated in Eugenio Lopez Jr. Communications Center, located in the vicinity, by July next year.
“With reduced debt levels, we expect financing costs to decline, improving our cash flow and profitability,” he said.
Inflow of revenues
Along with this, the ABS-CBN official is seeing more inflows of revenues from advertising after not registering growth last year.
“The advertising market is recovering from last year and we will get an extraordinary bump from election-related advertising,” Katigbak said.
Advertising revenues were flat at P6.7 billion in 2024.
“Last year … was a challenging year for the advertising market. Across the industry, advertising budgets declined as many companies struggled with weaker consumer spending,” the official noted.
In addition, Katigbak said they were working on strengthening revenue stream from the international licensing, film and music businesses.
The company recently produced “Rewind” and “Hello, Love, Again” with erstwhile rival GMA Network, raking in more than P2 billion in total.
ABS-CBN’s all-female group BINI has also been bringing in revenues for the company with its sold-out concerts here and abroad.
