the Outsider - PSE Points to Ponder

  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...

  For years, PLDT was treated by income investors as something close to a utility with a generous cheque attached. Its networks carried calls, data, and broadband traffic; its shares carried the promise of yield. But the first quarter of 2026 suggests that Manny V. Pangilinan’s telecoms flagship is entering a more austere dividend age: not one of abrupt retreat, but of careful, deliberate trimming. The evidence is hiding in plain sight. PLDT declared a regular common dividend of ₱46 per share for the first quarter of 2026, down from ₱47 per share a year earlier. The decline is only one peso, hardly dramatic. Yet it matters because it confirms the direction of policy. PLDT’s dividend is not being abandoned; it is being rationed. The company’s own numbers explain why. PLDT reported telco core income of ₱8.58 billion in the first quarter, down 2% from ₱8.78 billion in the same period last year. This is the critical measure. Since 2019, PLDT has based its regular dividend payout o...