PUBLICLY listed technology firm IPVG Corp. aims to increase its funds in a bid to buy more business-process outsourcing (BPO) companies this year, its deputy chairman told the BusinessMirror.

“We’re still continuing to raise cash. We need cash to raise growth and confirm to our investors that we’re going to do what we said we’re going to do with their money,” Roger Stone said.

Stone added the company is eyeing a doubling of the P730-million equity fund that IPVG has raised in the third quarter of last year.

That money was used for IPVG’s purchase of a company in Vietnam and its bid to buy BPO firm PeopleSupport.

Stone said this year’s war chest would mainly go to purchases of companies in the business-process outsourcing sector.

“The buying activities would mostly be on BPOs. We’re looking at some stuff in Asia,” Stone told the BusinessMirror at the sidelines of a press briefing Friday.

The company recently bought Hollywood, Florida-headquartered network security firm Prolexic Technologies Inc. and another US-based call-center company Interactive Teleservices Corp. (Influent).

IPVG said it bought 70 percent of Influent through cash and issuance of shares.

These purchases were made after PeopleSupport rejected IPVG’s purchase offer.

Stone said the money his company aimed to raise this year would come from debt and from internally generated cash.

“We want to keep the debt raised balanced; keeping our debt-to-equity ratio at fifty-fifty,” he said.

The company executives said in an investors’ briefing on Friday that it recorded a consolidated net income of P19.8 million for the fiscal year ending December 2007. This is a turnaround from the P102.1-million net loss that the firm posted in 2006.

The company attributed the reversal to its data-center business, which it said comprises 46 percent of its core revenues, and its gaming business, 42 percent of revenues. Its contact-center outsourcing business was credited for 7 percent of revenues.

The company posted a consolidated revenue of P923 million, or a 233-percent increase from P277 million in 2006.

However, the company remained trading at less than half of the P11-stock price it had last year.

Stone told the BusinessMirror that had the subprime crisis not hit the US, the company’s stock price would reflect its “true value.”

“If the subprime crisis hadn’t happened, our value would be reflected by our stock price,” Stone said.

He told reporters during the briefing that the company would ramp up its spending this year.

“Its a reasonable assumption that our capex on BPO would be bigger this year,” he said.

APART from putting money into the local farm sector, local agricultural producers also pushed for the need to ensure that their efforts to become competitive will not be threatened by the possibility of cheap and subsidized imports competing against their own produce.

PUBLICLY listed technology firm IPVG Corp. aims to increase its funds in a bid to buy more business-process outsourcing (BPO) companies this year, its deputy chairman told the BusinessMirror.

LOCAL sugar producers said  the Philippines is already self-sufficient in sugar as the industry is projected to produce 2.34 million metric tons (MMT) of the commodity for this crop year ending August 31.

EMERGING provinces of China have expressed interests in putting up investments in the Philippines, particu-larly in industrial parks, garments manufacturing, trading and resort development in the country, said the Philippine consulate in Shanghai.

COMING closer to fulfilling its commitment to bring in additional capacity in order to meet the growing demand in Subic Bay Freeport, Aboitiz Power Corp.’s (APC) subsidiary Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. (Redondo Peninsula Energy) has recently issued a letter of award to Formosa Heavy Industries.

THE PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.) Group unveiled last week a wireless-security solution for business owners that will help them secure their facilities and prevent theft at a fraction of the traditional costs.

AFTER increasing the price of diesel, gasoline and kerosene by as much as P2.50 per liter in March, oil companies have again adjusted the pump price of petroleum products by 50 centavos to reflect the continuous surge of world oil prices.

DAVAO CITY—Business and conventions attracted many of the visitors here and the nearby provinces and outbound travelers have not become the monopoly of urban dwellers nowadays.