Listed firm Pilipino Telephone Corp. (Piltel) reported a net income of P11.3 billion in 2008, largely owing to the growth in its subscriber base.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Piltel said the figure was a 37 percent improvement from the P8.3 billion net income recorded the previous year.

Piltel, the operator of the Talk 'N Text mobile services brand, said core net income, net of exceptional items, amounted to P11.3 billion, up 28 percent growth from P8.8 billion in 2007.

As of end-2008, Talk 'N Text had a subscriber base of 14.3 million, making it one of the largest cellular brands in the country, second to affiliate Smart Communications Inc., which had 20.9 million subscribers. Both companies are units of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.

"This subscriber milestone is gratifying - to achieve the number two position in a very competitive industry is certainly an achievement which everyone associated with Piltel can be very proud of," said Piltel chair Manuel Pangilinan.

Piltel's pre-tax income rose 33 percent to P17.1 billion. The company paid P5.9 billion in income taxes last year, up 42 percent year-on-year.

The company's service revenues increased 30 percent to P17.8 billion in 2008 from P13.7 billion in 2007, with total revenues from text messaging up 36 percent. Piltel's bucket-priced text messaging revenues rose significantly by 78 percent while revenues from standard text messaging fell 32 percent.

Around P16.3 billion was earned before taxes, interest, depreciation, and amortization in 2008, or 30 percent higher than the amount recorded in the previous year. At the end of the year, stockholders' equity stood at P21 billion.

Meanwhile, Piltel said its board of directors have declared a final cash dividend of P0.52 per share to common shareholders of record as of March 16 this year. The company said the payment date is set on March 31.

"Added to the previously paid interim dividend of P0.43 per share paid in September 2008, total dividends for the year will amount to P0.95 per share, representing a payout of approximately 100 percent of 2008 core earnings," Piltel said.

The company's board of directors have also approved an increase in the number of common shares to be repurchased under the share buy-back program by up to 25 million shares, representing 0.2 percent of Piltel's total outstanding common stock.

"We are pleased to complete Piltel's historic first dividend payment to its common shareholders with this final dividend declaration of P0.52 per share. The aggregate payout of P0.95 per share represents a dividend yield of close to 14 percent, based on the current share price." Pangilinan said.