PLDT Inc. said it is in no hurry to sell its remaining stake in German technology company Rocket Internet.
“There’s no pressure on the part of PLDT. I think for the meantime we will still hold on to the shares of the Rocket,” PLDT chairman and chief executive Manuel Pangilinan said.
PLDT still owns 2 percent of Rocket after selling a 4.1-percent stake worth P10.5 billion last month.
PLDT bought a 10-percent stake in Rocket Internet for 333 million euro or $445 million in 2014.
Rocket is a Berlin-based internet company that builds online startups and owns shareholdings in various models of internet retail businesses. It has stakes in major e-commerce platforms and startups in Southeast Asia, including Zalora, Lamudi, Carmudi, Traveloka, and Foodpanda.
Pangilinan earlier said PLDT would use proceeds from the Rocket sale to partly finance the company’s P58-billion capital expenditure program this year to further expand the fixed and mobile broadband networks.
The company set a P40-billion capex last year, or equivalent to 26 percent of consolidated service revenues.
PLDT earlier reported a net income of P6.9 billion in the first quarter, up 39 percent from P4.9 billion year-on-year.
Consolidated core income reached P6.1 billion in the three-month period, up 14 percent from a year ago.
Core income, excluding that of unit Voyager, rose 23 percent year-on-year to P6.7 billion, which if annualized would put the company ahead of its income guidance of P23 billion to 24 billion for 2018.
PLDT’s consolidated service revenues amounted to P36.7 billion, up 3 percent year-on-year.
PLDT Home reported revenues of P8.9 billion in the first quarter, up 14 percent on year, driven by robust subscriber take-up of its home broadband services, while the Enterprise Group posted revenues of P9.2 billion, up 7 percent.
The Wireless Individual business of Smart, TNT, and Sun contributed P14.8 billion in service revenues in the first quarter, up 2 percent on the year.