Forex losses drag Dito

Telecommunications service provider DITO CME Holdings Corp. swung back to a net loss in the third quarter as hefty foreign exchange losses negated the improvement in revenues.

The company suffered a third-quarter net loss of P6.3 billion, a reversal of the P998 million net profit in the same period last year.

This brought January to September net loss attributable to equity holders of parent company to P9.65 billion, although this was 4 percent smaller than the P11.05-billion net loss in the same period last year.

Three-month revenues rose by around 24 percent to P5.26 billion, driven by the expansion in service and nonrevenues.

Revenues grew at a faster pace than the 9.7-percent increase in third-quarter expenses to P8.26 billion.

However, the third-quarter bottom line was hit by a P7.32-billion foreign exchange loss versus a P10.83-billion foreign exchange gain booked in the same period last year.

For the nine-month period, service revenues grew by about a quarter, while nonservice revenues also increased.

Total revenues reached P14.92 billion, up by 25.5 percent from the same period last year.

See Also

BIZ BUZZ: Golden Arrows for everyone

Expenses for the nine-month period amounted to P24.9 billion, a 14.85 percent jump as overhead and operational costs increased alongside depreciation and amortization expenses.

Operating expenses rose amid continuous commercial rollout and expansion.

High interest expense also contributed to the losses.

As of end-September, Dito had a subscriber base of 15.21 million in the mobile segment and 319,000 in fixed wireless access.