MANILA, Philippines, January 8, 2014– Telecoms leader PLDT emerged as the most valuable firm listed at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) last year with a market capitalization of P576.0 billion after it closed higher at P2,666 per share on December 27, 2013, the last trading day.
This registers a 5.4% increase in PLDT’s share price year-on-year, higher than the modest gains of the PSE main index which closed 1.3% higher year-on-year at 5,889.83 on the last trading day. Daily average turnover rose 44.9% to P10.5 billion in 2013 with total market capitalization rising to P11.93 trillion.
In 2013, PLDT paid out a total of P37.6 billion in dividends consisting of the final regular dividend and special dividend for 2012, and the interim regular dividend for 2013.
With a capex guidance of P29 billion last year, PLDT further expanded its already extensive fiber optic network to over 71,000 kilometers, enabling the company to offer industry-leading high-speed broadband connectivity to homes and powering mobile broadband services of Smart’s Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network. Riding on these high-speed connections, PLDT has begun to offer rich multimedia services such as movie and TV content on its fiber-powered networks.
“PLDT celebrated last year its 85 years of changing the lives through our various innovative products and services. In that span of time, PLDT has gone through several transformations,” PLDT President and CEO Napoleon Nazareno said.
“Today, we are going through yet another, and perhaps most profound process of reinvention thus far. We are transforming ourselves from a telecoms company into an integrated, multimedia communications group that can thrive in the increasingly digital world," he noted.
In terms of corporate governance, PSE recognized PLDT for its governance practices at the recent PSE Bell Awards. Also last year, PLDT received a Platinum Award for Excellence in Management and Corporate Governance by leading regional corporate finance publication The Asset, and was included in the top 10 Philippine companies with the Best Corporate Governance in the Finance Asia Awards. PLDT was also recognized for being an Icon on Corporate Governance in the Corporate Governance Asia Awards.
For the fifth consecutive year, PLDT was also recognized for having the Best Investor Relations by a Philippine company at the 2013 Investor Relations (IR) Magazine South East Asia Awards held in Singapore.
The leading telecoms company was also recently cited for having the Most Consistent Dividend Policy among publicly-listed Philippine companies in the 3rd Annual Southeast Asia Institutional Investor Corporate Awards by Hong Kong-based investor publications Alpha Southeast Asia Magazine in July 2013. The award was based on the votes of independent investors and analysts surveyed by the regional publication.
This is the second year in a row that PLDT was cited by Alpha Southeast Asia Magazine for its dividend policy. PLDT paid out 100% of its 2012 core earnings per share (EPS) as dividends to shareholders, making it the sixth consecutive year of 100% payout.
PLDT has also received recognition for its commitment to a consistent dividend policy from Hong Kong-based financial investment magazine FinanceAsia in early 2013.
PLDT was also named the Philippines Telecom Service Provider of the Year by the prestigious Frost and Sullivan Philippines Excellence Awards in June last year. The company also took home the Broadband Service Provider of the Year, Hosted Contact Center Service Provider of the Year, and Datacenter Services Vendor of the Year awards conferred to its wholly-owned subsidiary ePLDT.
