Philippine electronic gaming service provider PhilWeb has announced a 165% increase in revenue for the first six months of 2018 to Php172.6 million after winning back its PAGCOR gaming license last August.
PhilWeb, which supplies gaming software to PAGCOR’s network of electronic gaming outlets, had its license revoked in 2016 by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte after he famously described the company’s former owner Roberto Ongpin as an “oligarch”. Ongpin subsequently sold his 53.75% stake to Gregorio Araneta III.
Revealing its 1H18 financial results on Friday, PhilWeb said the growth in revenue – which included a 144% increase to Php95.1 million in the second quarter – was due to two main factors: the number of PhilWeb outlets rising to 54 since having its license renewed and the launch of a new set of games using Habanero software.
“We are pleasantly surprised that the combination of two gaming softwares has not resulted in one cannibalizing the other, but instead, has resulted in growth for both sets of games,” said PhilWeb President Denis Valdes. “We intend to use this learning to continue to introduce new gaming software to our pool of customers, so that we can continue to attract new players to our e-Games outlets.”
PhilWeb’s 1H18 EBITDA also climbed to a positive of Php2.4 million thanks to EBITDA of Php6.8 million in the second quarter.
“We have to thank the entire PhilWeb team as they have increased revenue while decreasing expenses, which is always a powerful generator of cash flow,” said Araneta III.
“I am deeply committed to getting PhilWeb back to its former profitability levels, during which times we were able to pay out high dividends to stockholders and generate significant share price increases as well. We believe those times will come back soon as operators gain more trust in our service quality and PAGCOR sees the consistently increasing remittances that we deliver to them for their various charitable programs.”