SKYCABLE Corp., expects gross revenues this year to increase by half a billion pesos, the company’s chief operating officer said.

Carlo Katigbak, in an interview, said Sky Cable may hit P4 billion in gross revenues this year compared to P3.5 billion posted in 2007. “Our revenues will be close to P4 billion for 2008,” he said.

The official earlier said he would want SkyCable subscriber base to hit a 10 percent growth rate this year compared with five percent last year.

SkyCable has around 500,000 subscribers and accounts for about 65 percent of the cable TV market in Metro Manila.

“This year, we will be happy to hit a growth rate of 10 percent in subscriber numbers. But realistically, we may only grow by a single digit. We still need to deploy more digital boxes,” he added.

These digital boxes encrypt signals to prevent signal piracy. At end-2007, SkyCable has deployed 50,000 of the boxes to various SkyCable subscribers in the metropolis. In Cebu,15,000 boxes have already been distributed to its subscribers.

“We have rolled out a total of 65,000 digital boxes last year. This year, we are targeting to deploy 40,000 more and we hope that half of our subscribers would have already bought these boxes by the end of this year,” said Katigbak.

He also said that the possible listing of SkyCable will depend on the decision of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. “It is up to them,” said Katigbak.

ABS-CBN chair Eugenio L. Lopez III said early this month that it will put on hold plans to list SkyCable given the condition of the market. He observed that there are a number of local firms that have already shelved plans to list on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Until the market improves, he said, Sky Cable’s IPO (initial public offering) will be postponed.

ABS-CBN signed last March an agreement with SkyCable to extend the maturity of the latter’s debt to the broadcast firm.

Sky Cable, formerly Central CATV Inc., executed a second amendment to the facility agreement with ABS-CBN and other lenders of Sky Cable who hold more than 67 percent of the outstanding loan.

“The second amendment, among others, extends the loan maturity from 2010 to 2016,” Lopez said.

ABS-CBN had purchased the bulk of Sky Cable’s debt amounting to P1.8 billion from creditors via cash payment and fresh borrowing.

The amount is about 67 percent of the total outstanding principal of P2.74 billion when the invitation to SkyCable’s creditors was made.

The company offered two options for the retirement of Sky Cable’s outstanding obligations. The first involves ABS-CBN buying the cable TV operator’s debt at a 30-percent discount. The second entails swapping Sky Cable’s IOUs with those of the broadcast giant’s debt.

STATE-run National Power Corp. (Napocor) may be dragging its feet and causing a delay in the completion of the sale of the 600-megawatt (MW) Calaca Power Plant in Batangas to Suez Energy International.

DMCI reports 2007 net jumped 150% to P2.84B

DMCI Holdings Inc. reported a 150-percent jump in consolidated net profit to P2.84 billion in 2007 from P1.14 billion a year earlier.

SKYCABLE Corp., expects gross revenues this year to increase by half a billion pesos, the company’s chief operating officer said.

LISTED energy firm Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. (PPPI) said its net profit in 2007 grew to P122 million from P74 million a year earlier as it registered a 59-percent jump in revenues to P2.4 billion.

GLOBE Telecom expects 3G (third generation) mobile subscribers in its network to hit half-a-million this year, said an official of the cellular firm.

With the foreign exchange rate stabilizing because of inflation, some banks are hoping their treasury earnings would go back near the ideal 60-40 ratio in favor of corporates.