DigiPlus FY24 profit: P12.6-B (up 207%)

DigiPlus [PLUS 37.05 ?4.1%] [link] teased a FY24 net income of P12.6 billion, up 207%, and a Q4 net income of P3.8 billion, up 93% y/y, on a 110% increase in revenues to P23.7 billion. PLUS identified the “Pinoy Drop Ball” game as one of the “biggest growth drivers”, with “Super Ace Jackpot” as a “key driver of engagement”. PLUS also declared a regular annual cash dividend of P0.86/share, payable on April 4 to shareholders of record as of March 21. The dividend has a yield of 3.36% based on PLUS’s closing price from the previous day.

  MB BOTTOM-LINE:  This wasn’t an earnings report, it was a press release. It’s not mandatory for PLUS to say anything, and there are no formal rules on what it needs to provide in terms of financial data. While the numbers here are great, they actually don’t do much analysis of their year or quarter, and instead spend a lot more time trumpeting their business’s contributions to the country’s tax coffers, the various charitable initiatives they’re a part of, and the number of jobs provided by PLUS’s business across the country. You know, just in case you heard that news about some politician floating the idea of a total gaming ban. They also took the time to frame their games as “uniquely Filipino” and “culturally resonant”, just in case you mentally lumped their gaming in with the POGOs, or were of the opinion that what they’re doing is somehow new. According to PLUS, their business is just an extension of what we’ve been doing all along. I’m not highlighting this to be critical of PLUS. Their business is inherently political, and they know how to play the game. Shareholders are likely thankful for PLUS’s efforts on these fronts. “Vice” industries need to maintain strong societal hooks to make their potential removal as painful-looking as possible