PhilWeb Corp, which until August 10 operated Internet cafés exclusively dedicated to casino games across the Philippines, said second-quarter profit slumped as operating expenses for the period rose.
Net income fell to PHP22.2 million (US$478,825) in the three months ended June 30, down 89 percent from PHP201.7 million a year earlier, the company said in a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
The firm posted operating revenue of PHP435.3 million for the second quarter of 2016, up by 8.6 percent from the prior-year period. Operating expenses however jumped 167.1 percent year-on-year to PHP414 million, compared to PHP155 million in the second quarter of 2015. The firm said the increase was mainly due to accrued expense and impairment of assets “as a result of temporary suspension of e-Games operation”.
PhilWeb’s main revenue business during the second quarter consisted of licensing proprietary software and providing technical, marketing and cash management services to state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp’s (Pagcor) e-Games cafés.
The company however began winding down its e-Games outlet operation in the Philippines on August 10, after the country’s gaming regulator decided not to renew the firm’s licence.
PhilWeb had run Pagcor’s e-Games network for 14 years. It managed 286 branches and had more than 5,000 employees, the firm said in recent filings.
The controlling shareholder of PhilWeb, Roberto Ongpin, announced last week he would sell his entire 53.76-percent stake in the gaming parlour operator via an open and public bidding process.
PhilWeb’s president, Dennis Valdes, told the Philippine Star newspaper on Monday that the company is studying all options in an effort to salvage the business, including the possibility of “a management buyout”.
