PhilWeb trims net loss in 3rd quarter

VENTURING INTO electronic bingo (e-bingo) continues to help PhilWeb Corp. trim its losses, as the company posted a lower attributable net loss in the third quarter.

The listed gaming firm said in a regulatory filing Monday that its attributable net loss ended at P4.5 million in the third quarter, narrowing from P25.21 million in the same period last year, due to higher revenues from its robust e-bingo business.

Gross revenues of the company grew 48% to P148.79 million, fueled by the 73 electronic gaming outlets operated by the company.

“E-bingo has been a pleasant surprise for PhilWeb. Now, aside from our revenues from e-Games outlets and our e-casino software services, we also have revenue streams from e-bingo outlets and a network of over a thousand e-bingo machines deployed throughout the country,” PhilWeb Chairman Gregorio Ma. Araneta III said in a statement yesterday.

“With the new sources of revenue, we have doubled our growth engines for the coming year.”

Year to date, PhilWeb’s attributable net loss stood at P26.79 million, down 62% from the same nine-month period last year. Revenues in the first three quarters also rose 33% to P394.91 million at end-September.

Expenses also increased to P414.45 million in the period, up 7.9% from the first nine months of 2018.

“This shows that we are well on track regarding our commitment to getting PhilWeb back to its former profitability levels, during which times we were able to pay out high dividends to stockholders and generate significant share price increases as well,” PhilWeb President Dennis O. Valdes said.

The added revenue streams of PhilWeb came from signing a joint cooperation agreement with the Palmary Corp. earlier this year, which made it indirect owner of several electronic gaming outlets.

“With our move to enter the e-bingo space in addition to our strong presence in e-casino, PhilWeb remains committed to our role in consistently increasing the revenues of PAGCOR, which we have done for over thirteen years,” Mr. Araneta said. — Denise A. Valdez