Stock News 2013: Philweb says corner-store gaming format to thrive alongside integrated casinos

Casino logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Philweb Corp on Tuesday said it plans to expand its online gaming business to at least six countries across the Asia Pacific this year, even as it shrugged off competition coming from new integrated casinos.

"Asia in general is booming. We are looking at Thailand, Myanmar, Palau, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Mongolia as new areas of opportunity," Dennis Valdes, Philweb president told reporters on the sidelines of the company's stockholders' meeting.

Valdes expects majority of Philweb's future revenues to come from operations abroad. At present, the company's Asia Pacific business contributes nine percent.

Philweb recorded consolidated revenues of P1.5 billion in 2012, up 27 percent year-on-year.  Its net income rose 20 percent to P1.1 billion last year.

Philweb operates scratch card businesses in Cambodia, Timor Leste and Indonesia, as well as a sweepstakes business in Guam.

For its domestic operations, Valdes is bullish about the company's outlook despite the opening of new casinos in Metro Manila.

"We found that the gamers are very different. You see in our track records or revenue that there has been no effect on e-games. The reason for that is the Resorts World Manila and Solaire are in a very small section of the entire country, which is the city of Manila and Paranaque, while e-games is in every island," he said.

Resorts World Manila is a stand-alone casino across from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, while Solaire is one of four integrated casino complexes rising on reclaimed land along Manila Bay in what is known as Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp's (Pagcor) Entertainment City.

"We are the 7-11 of gaming. It's your corner convenience store," Valdes said, referring to the convenience store chain.

http://www.interaksyon.com/business/58486/philweb-says-corner-store-gaming-format-to-thrive-alongside-integrated-casinos

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Stock News 2012: PhilWeb to invest P100 million

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 21: A detail shot from a new 'The Hangover' slot machine by International Game Technology at the Las Vegas premiere of the Warner Bros. Pictures movie, 'The Hangover Part II' at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino May 21, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The film opens nationwide in the United States on May 26. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)Listed gaming solutions provider PhilWeb Corp. is investing as much as P100 million in a new company that will manufacture gaming terminals for its local network of 262 e-Games cafes and its various international businesses.

In a statement, Philweb president Dennis Valdes said the company is gearing up to compete in the booming market for these devices worldwide through PhilWeb Gaming Solutions Corp. (PGSC).

The gaming terminals will allow PhilWeb to offer a device that tightly integrates all its gaming software, while improving security and functionality in the gaming experience.

PGSC will be headed by Joe Pisano, who has been in the gaming industry for several decades and was recently named one of the Top 50 most influential persons in the gaming industry by Inside Asian Gaming magazine.

Pisano is also president of Jade Entertainment and Gaming Inc., a regional distributor for the world’s leading manufacturers of equipment used in the gaming industry, like IGT, Novomatic, FutureLogic, Crane and others.

“Pisano has been a friend for many years and his regional experience will prove invaluable as we grow in Asia Pacific. I’m very bullish on our new venture, as this device will significantly improve the gaming experience for our over 40,000 customers per day, who play on our e-Games network of close to 6,000 terminals,” Valdes said.

Valdes said Guam, Timor Leste, Cambodia, Laos and other countries where the company has extended its business activities are also expected to benefit from this venture.

“The market for these devices goes beyond just PhilWeb’s own businesses but into the realm of consumers worldwide. We can make these devices cheaper and better in the Philippines,” Valdes pointed out.

For his part, Pisano said: “I am pleased to start a new venture with PhilWeb, as their spectacular growth over the past years has shown that they are the right partner in Asia Pacific. These devices will be an excellent new business for the entire company in the coming years.”

This new venture is also expected to boost Philweb’s cashflow. In the first half of the year, PhilWeb grew its net income by 30 percent to P480 million as revenues rose 24 percent to P692 million.

Philweb earlier said it was targeting to hit at least P2 billion in profits this year or more than double the P940 million recorded in 2011, mainly driven by robust sales of sweepstakes scratch cards and the sustained growth in revenue from its “Pegs” or Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) Internet gaming cafes.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=835036&publicationSubCategoryId=66

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Stock News 2012: SMIC earmarks P5 billion for hotel project

SM Investments Corporation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
SM Investments Corp. (SMIC), the holding firm for the various business of the family of the country’s richest man Henry Sy, has earmarked almost P5 billion for the construction of two hotels under the Luxury brand.

Based on documents submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), SMIC has appropriated around P4.93 billion out of the total proceeds from its fixed-rate bond issue for two hotel projects to be built at the Mall of Asia complex and in Looc, Batangas.

A big chunk, or P3.4 billion, will go to Luxury City Hotel, an upscale hotel that will have approximately 400 rooms.

The balance of P1.53 billion will be channeled to the 400-room Luxury Hotel in Santelmo, Batangas. “This will be a resort,” said SMIC chief financial officer Jose Sio.

Sio said the design and costing are still being prepared.

SMIC’s hotels and convention centers segment is aiming to offer 1,000 hotel rooms by 2013.

The group is currently building the P750-million Park Inn Radisson Hotel in Davao City’s Lanang District, the first Park Inn Radisson in the Asia Pacific region.

Targeted for opening in the first quarter of 2013, the 204-room Park Inn hotel will be located within the 175,000-square meter mixed-use complex owned and developed by SMIC’s shopping mall subsidiary SM Prime Holdings Inc.

The Park Inn brand is one of the hotel brands under Carlson and is the largest mid-market brand for hotels under development in Europe.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?publicationSubCategoryId=66&articleId=815940

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Stock News 2012: PhilWeb posts record profit in 2011

PhilWeb Corp., the country’s first and largest listed online technology firm, reported a record net income of P914 million last year, 45 percent higher than the previous year’s level, on the back of strong growth in its core e-Games Cafe business as well as new businesses in Asia Pacific.

PhilWeb president Dennis Valdes noted that this marked the sixth consecutive year of income growth and that they are now just shy of cracking the billion-peso mark in earnings.

He also noted that this performance had been recognized by Forbes Asia magazine which included PhilWeb in its 2011 Best Under a Billion list, the publication’s annual listing of the 200 best performing publicly-listed companies in Asia Pacific with sales under $1 billion.

Additionally, PhilWeb was one of only three companies to garner an additional special award, as the Most Profitable Company, among those that made the list. This is the second year in a row that PhilWeb has been recognized for both awards by Forbes Asia. PhilWeb’s net income represents a profit margin of 60 percent as measured against its revenues of P1.2 billion.

Valdes noted that PhilWeb is now one of the most significant revenue contributors to state-run gaming agency Philippine Arrangement Gaming Corp. (Pagcor). Last year, PhilWeb remitted a total of P1.7 billion to the agency, 34 percent more than in 2010. This amount comes without a single centavo of capital expenditure or operating expense on Pagcor’s part, and therefore flows directly to its bottom line.

The real excitement in PhilWeb, Valdes said, comes from their new endeavors in Asia Pacific. These include The Sweeps Center, a cafe in Guam, and scratch cards businesses in Timor Leste and Cambodia. “We are also hopeful to gain new licenses in other Asia Pacific countries this year,” he said.

PhilWeb declared dividends twice in 2011, doubling the amount that was paid out in the previous year. Valdes said that the company fully expects to continue declaring dividends in 2012 and beyond.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=777957&publicationSubCategoryId=66

Stock News 2010: Visa payments volume in Asia Pacific grows 12% to $800 billion

Image via Wikipedia
MANILA, Philippines – Visa Inc. reported increased card spending throughout the Asia Pacific region.

For the 12 months ended September 30, 2010, payments volume generated on all Visa cards across Asia Pacific reached US$800 billion, an increase of 12.0 percent over the same period last year.

Significantly, the total number of actual payments transactions increased to 10.2 billion, up 11.4 percent from 12 months ago. This increase highlights the continued trend by consumers to use electronic forms of payments rather than cash and checks throughout the region.

Overall, across the Asia Pacific region, both Visa debit and credit products recorded strong growth throughout the year; payments volume for debit increased by 42.9 percent while credit increased by 9.7 percent.

The number of Visa debit cards increased by 15 percent for the year ending September, 2010. This growth figure is a key indicator that more and more people are joining the formal banking system, a sign in turn of improved financial inclusion in developing economies.

http://www.mb.com.ph/node/293099/vi

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