the Outsider - PSE Points to Ponder

  In the Philippine food business, growth often arrives wrapped in cheese, discounts, and delivery fees. Figaro Culinary Group, Inc. seems to understand this better than most. In the quarter ended March 31, 2026, the company’s revenue climbed to ₱1.496bn , up 14.9% from a year earlier, while nine-month revenue rose 13.5% to ₱4.697bn . The expansion story remains intact. But the more interesting question is not whether FCG is growing. It is whether that growth is becoming more expensive to produce. The answer, for now, is yes. Gross profit in the March quarter rose 16.0% to ₱674.0m , nudging gross margin upward to 45.1% from 44.6% a year earlier. For the nine-month period, gross margin improved more meaningfully, to 46.6% from 44.2% . On the surface, that is encouraging: the company is selling more while keeping direct costs under reasonable control. But below the gross-profit line, the picture becomes less flattering. Operating expenses in the quarter rose 18.2% , faster than...

  Salvador Zamora II’s quiet attempt to turn a distressed telco and a digital-media beachhead into a new platform of influence In the Philippine business sector, tycoons tend to prefer hard assets: mines, ports, power plants, property, and pipelines. Salvador “Buddy” Zamora II , long associated with mining, energy, and industrial ventures, now appears to be edging into a more intangible but potentially more powerful domain: connectivity, cybersecurity, and media distribution . Through his seat at PT&T Corp. , and through the broader Menlo Capital orbit associated with Salvador Zamora and Benjamin Bitanga , he has become linked to two assets that sit close to the nerve center of the modern economy: PT&T , a rehabilitating telecommunications company, and Rappler , a digital-media company in which Menlo-linked interests have been reported to hold exposure. The temptation is to call this a comeback story. It is better understood as an option. PT&T is not yet a challen...

  In telecoms, coverage is not the same as solvency. DITO Telecommunity, the Philippines’ third mobile operator, has done the hard visible work: it has built a national network, sold SIMs, added subscribers, and inserted itself into a market once shared comfortably by two incumbents. But the latest public filings of its listed parent, DITO CME Holdings Corp. , show a company still being carried less by profits than by debt, supplier credit, shareholder advances, and investor patience . For the nine months ended September 30, 2025 , DITO CME reported revenue of ₱14.92 billion , but a net loss of ₱24.93 billion . Its capital deficiency widened to ₱95.31 billion , from ₱73.39 billion at the end of 2024. The top line is the part management can point to. Revenue rose from ₱11.89 billion in the first nine months of 2024 to ₱14.92 billion in the same period of 2025, a rise of roughly 25.5% . Service revenue accounted for almost all of it, at ₱14.50 billion . This is evidence of commerc...

  In Philippine telecoms, the contest between Manny Pangilinan’s PLDT and the Ayalas’ Globe is no longer only about whose network is faster, whose fiber reaches farther, or whose mobile brand occupies more Filipino pockets. It is increasingly a quieter struggle: who can carry the heavy debt of the 5G and fiber era with less strain? The first-quarter 2026 numbers show two giants trying to normalize after years of capital intensity. PLDT remains the larger machine, with ₱56.5bn in revenues and ₱28.3bn in EBITDA , against Globe’s ₱45.7bn in revenues and ₱22.2bn in EBITDA . Yet size is not the same as comfort. PLDT’s earnings engine is bigger, but its leverage and liquidity metrics look more stretched. Globe, smaller but nimbler, presents the cleaner deleveraging story. PLDT’s advantage is obvious at first glance. Its EBITDA base of ₱28.3bn in the first quarter exceeded Globe’s ₱22.2bn , giving Pangilinan’s group a broader cash-profit cushion to absorb interest, lease, depreciation,...

  The Ayala Group may find it harder to squeeze higher dividends from Globe Telecom Inc. as the phone carrier’s latest quarterly results show rising financial strain beneath otherwise resilient operating numbers. Globe, one of the Philippines’ largest telecommunications companies and a key dividend contributor to Ayala Corp., reported a 20% drop in first-quarter net income to ₱5.55 billion , even as service revenues climbed 5% to ₱41.97 billion . The divergence points to a growing challenge for shareholders: Globe’s core business is still expanding, but more of its cash and earnings are being absorbed by debt costs, capital spending, and foreign-exchange volatility. For investors counting on rising payouts, the message from the March quarter was mixed. Globe’s core net income rose 9% to ₱4.93 billion , and EBITDA increased 7% to ₱22.17 billion , with margin improving to 52.8% from 52.1% a year earlier. Yet reported net income fell sharply, reflecting the absence of prior-year one...

In the Philippine telecom market, the contest for investors’ loyalty has long been measured in signal strength, subscriber counts, and fiber kilometers. But in 2026, another battlefield is taking shape: the dividend crown . On one side stands Manuel V. Pangilinan , the “MVP” of Philippine corporate life, whose PLDT Inc. remains the country’s telecom cash machine—large, entrenched, and disciplined in its dividend framework. On the other hand is Dennis Anthony Uy of Converge ICT Solutions Inc., whose younger fiber challenger is beginning to look less like a growth-only broadband insurgent and more like a credible dividend-growth story. Their first-quarter 2026 results tell a nuanced story. PLDT looks better equipped to defend its dividend. Converge looks better placed to grow one. PLDT: The incumbent with the cash engine PLDT’s first-quarter numbers still carry the heft of an incumbent. Revenue rose 2% year-on-year to ₱56.5 billion , while EBITDA increased 2% to ₱28.3 billion , with EBI...