Globe Telecom profit up 13% at P13.3B in '07

Globe Telecom, the country's second largest phone firm, on Monday reported that its net income for 2007 rose 13 percent to P13.3 billion as its subscriber base increased 20 percent. Minus the impact of foreign exchange and mark-to-market gains and losses and the non-recurring costs related to its early redemption of $300 million in debt, the company's core net income jumped 27 percent to P13.7 billion. In a statement, Globe said its mobile customer base broke past the 20 million mark at 20.3 million at the end of 2007. “We are very pleased with our strong results for 2007 despite the consistently challenging and competitive market. We hope to sustain this growth into 2008 through continued focus on the needs of our subscribers and disciplined execution of our strategy blueprint," said Gerardo C. Ablaza Jr. president and chief executive officer of Globe. The company disclosed that consolidated service revenues grew 11 percent to P63.2 billion, driven by growth of 11 percent and 7 percent from its wireless and wireline businesses, respectively. - GMANews.TV