Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Let's pivot back and
Speaker 1: have a look at Southeast Asia, specifically the Philippines and
Speaker 1: the Changing Guard. They are the country's largest telco. Her
Speaker 1: market cap on your screens. This Globe share price down
Speaker 1: about is seventy eight percent. It's hardly been a good year,
Speaker 1: certainly for overall for markets. Just to put that into context.
Speaker 1: Joining us now is Carl Raymond Cruz officially appointed the
Speaker 1: CEO at Globe at the company's annual stockholders meeting just
Speaker 1: in fact, which I believe just concluded a couple of
Speaker 1: minutes back. Good morning, and thanks for taking the time
Speaker 1: to speak with us. How is your first AGM?
Speaker 2: Good morning? First of all, thank you for having me
Speaker 2: in this show. The first AGM went well. We had
Speaker 2: the seamless Annual Stockholders Meeting, so hopefully it bodes well
Speaker 2: for the future of Globe. What lies ahead for all
Speaker 2: of us?
Speaker 1: All right now? What everyone is yes thinking? And I'm
Speaker 1: sure you've entertained the question as well, Carl in since
Speaker 1: the announcement, what are your initial priorities now for the company.
Speaker 2: Well, I will spend a disproportionate amount of time listening
Speaker 2: to the organization engaging consumers and really trying to bring
Speaker 2: a sharper customer mindset. I think, coming from my years
Speaker 2: of experience in the FMCG industry and having worked in
Speaker 2: a number of markets which are slightly similar, some are
Speaker 2: probably more volatile than the Philippines, you know, there's a
Speaker 2: sense that the demand is really driven by a very
Speaker 2: heavy consumer sector. So hopefully my training to obsess about
Speaker 2: what the consumer wants and act in it fast will
Speaker 2: do well for my new journey at Globe.
Speaker 3: I'm sure your training with consumers will will pay off.
Speaker 3: But what are you hearing then in terms of the
Speaker 3: concerns of recession or the concerns about tariffs and the
Speaker 3: impact on inflation. How am i that you know potentially
Speaker 3: feed into the demand from consumers.
Speaker 2: Well, obviously it has impacted consumer purchasing power. While I
Speaker 2: think the economy of the Philippines is going through coming
Speaker 2: back to normalcy where inflation is actually going down and
Speaker 2: GDP stable at about five six percent, you know, it
Speaker 2: is up to key players such as Globe to make
Speaker 2: sure that we actually accelerate consumer demand for Telco and
Speaker 2: our products. The good thing about the Philippines, it's the
Speaker 2: fastest growing digital economy in Southeast Asia, and this boats
Speaker 2: well for US and the Philippines having, of course a
Speaker 2: very young population that are already online, boats well again
Speaker 2: for the future of Globe because our future customer base
Speaker 2: is now online and actually growing.
Speaker 3: This is also coming against the backdrop though, of maturing
Speaker 3: core telco business. For Glow overall, what is that going
Speaker 3: to mean in terms of the strategy You're going to
Speaker 3: deploy to fire revenues profits correct.
Speaker 2: So you know, in my first ninety days of onboarding,
Speaker 2: I looked at what made Globe successful and one of
Speaker 2: the key success factors of the organization, besides of course
Speaker 2: having a great engaged set of employees and having a
Speaker 2: great culture, is the fact that everyone in the organization
Speaker 2: is obsessed with the customers. So moving forward, while a
Speaker 2: lot of people think that the industry is mature, opportunities
Speaker 2: actually abound. I'll give you one example. In the Philippines,
Speaker 2: site density is actually.
Speaker 1: Not that good.
Speaker 2: I think we have about close to five thousand users
Speaker 2: per site. When you compare that to Thai Land we
Speaker 2: have the population, they're only at about one thousand, five
Speaker 2: hundred to two thousand users at site level. While people
Speaker 2: will say it's a mature market. Yes it is, but
Speaker 2: opportunities abound in terms of future revenue growth.
Speaker 1: Right and Carl Well, speaking of since you brought up
Speaker 1: revenue growth, I mean, I think you guys cleared in
Speaker 1: the last calendar. I'm just trying to rack my brain.
Speaker 1: I think it was one hundred eighty billion that's local
Speaker 1: currency in revenues last year. The last few years have
Speaker 1: seen low to mid single digit revenue growth. Are you
Speaker 1: happy with that rate of growth?
Speaker 2: You're absolutely correct, David. So it's about low to single digit.
Speaker 2: The guidance will remain to be low to single digit
Speaker 2: at this point in time while we repivot in terms
Speaker 2: of looking at how we are positioned in the mobile
Speaker 2: segment and getting a bit more aggressive in the broadband
Speaker 2: segment and also enterprise or B to B. That guidance
Speaker 2: as of now remains, but you know, moving forward, ambition
Speaker 2: is to actually be the largest, most profitable, and most
Speaker 2: ad marketelco operator in the Philippines. And for us to
Speaker 2: attain that, we need to get to a stronger position
Speaker 2: in both the fiber market and as well B to B.
Speaker 1: What kind of topics are we talking for you to
Speaker 1: be able to put yourself in a position to realize
Speaker 1: those objectives.
Speaker 2: So our capecks are still would still be at a
Speaker 2: healthy level. We're clearing about thirty to thirty four percent
Speaker 2: in terms of CAPEX productivity, but at the same time,
Speaker 2: bulk of that will be put on and spent on
Speaker 2: obviously data. This, as I said, the Philippines is the
Speaker 2: fastest growing digital economy in Southeast Asia, in the subregion,
Speaker 2: and therefore, to my mind, very clearly, based on what
Speaker 2: I've seen so far, Globe is best positioned to actually
Speaker 2: ensure that we benefit from that uptick.
Speaker 3: Of course we've seen we're of course seeing a lot
Speaker 3: of market volatility in the meantime. Markets are looking forward
Speaker 3: as well to the g Cash IPO, that timeline and
Speaker 3: what we can potentially expect in terms of size. What
Speaker 3: more can you tell us about this.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, everyone, it's all hands on deck to
Speaker 2: actually get g Cash to be a pushbottom ready for
Speaker 2: an IPO. Tentative timing would be anywhere between the last
Speaker 2: quarter of the year or the first half of next year,
Speaker 2: so all hands are in deck to make sure that
Speaker 2: it's going to be the most successful offering in the
Speaker 2: Philippine market and Obviously, from what you guys know, the
Speaker 2: valuation the last time it is valued is a five
Speaker 2: billion US dollars. We do expect, based on certain assumptions
Speaker 2: that hopefully could be better than that.
Speaker 3: How much better are we looking at here?
Speaker 2: Well, I'm not in a position, but based on what
Speaker 2: you know, the analysts are saying it could definitely be higher.
Speaker 2: I just don't want to moment on a figure right now, David.
Speaker 1: Right, I think your I think Ernest your predecessor mentioned,
Speaker 1: I think we spoke to him a few weeks A
Speaker 1: guy said he was happy with at least eight. But
Speaker 1: I realize, and you know, I acknowledge that there are
Speaker 1: lots of moving parts, including by the way, I think
Speaker 1: your separate conversations that you guys are having with the
Speaker 1: exchange and the minimum float and what have you. Once
Speaker 1: it's listed, and let's say, let's just for conversation's sake,
Speaker 1: it's listed before the end of the year, to your
Speaker 1: point early next year, what role will you play specifically
Speaker 1: and Globe play in terms of running that specific business.
Speaker 2: So Globe will remain to be the largest shareholder of
Speaker 2: mintor g cash, And of course we have we have
Speaker 2: to maintain an arms length relationship with Gkash because they
Speaker 2: also serve, for example, other players in the industry. So
Speaker 2: I will be playing a coordinating role with Ernest and
Speaker 2: the team led by Martha to make sure that we
Speaker 2: continue to lead the digital and financially inclusion in the Philippines.
Speaker 2: So in exciting times ahead both for Cortel, Quod, Globe
Speaker 2: and as well for Findech A G Cash.
Speaker 3: David and April, Yeah, and thank you for taking the
Speaker 3: time to come and share some of your upcoming plans.
Speaker 3: Congratulations on a successful first AGM. Really going to keep
Speaker 3: a close watch on how you're going to steer the
Speaker 3: business going forward. Thanks so much again, Cale, Raymond Cruz,
Speaker 3: CEO of Globe Telecom