On Thursday, DigiPlus Interactive posted highly anticipated first-half 2025 results, with net income soaring 61 percent to P8.4 billion and revenues climbing 47 percent to P47.8 billion.
Blowout earnings typically act as a stock price booster as investors chase growth and dividends.
Instead of rallying, its shares plunged as much as 21 percent intraday. The company’s robust financials were overshadowed by the online gaming probe led by Games and Amusement Committee chair Sen. Erwin Tulfo on the same day.
The stock finished the session lower by 19.83 percent to P24.05 each.
Abacus Securities’ Nicky Franco told InsiderPH in a text message that the market shrugged off DigiPlus’ strong earnings as attention shifted to regulatory risks raised during the Senate hearings.
Senate hearing
The selldown intensified after Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Mert Tangonan told the Senate that mobile wallets, crucial to the online gaming boom, were ordered to sever clickable links with operators within 48 hours.
Some feared this meant users could no longer use mobile wallets such as GCash and Maya for cashing in and out—an outcome industry insiders viewed as among the worst-case scenarios, just a few rungs above an outright ban.
But Franco clarified this only involves clickable links to gaming sites, and that gamblers can still use money transfer features since online gaming sites remain a legal and regulated industry.
A boon to incumbents like PLUS?
Another market expert, who requested anonymity, said delinking might be bad for new entrants but could benefit established firms like PLUS.
Based on estimates, the company has more than 8.5 million monthly active users.
“They all use the PLUS app,” the expert said, meaning these players are already using cash-in and cash-out features native to the app.
“They don’t need the e-wallets as much,” the expert added.
PLUS' profit holds
PLUS posted strong second quarter results with a 30-percent year-on-year net income increase to P4.2 billion.
Its revenues were up 31 percent to P24.71 billion from last year, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization climbed 32 percent to P4.5 billion.
But its market share takes a hit
There’s some concern, however, as revenue growth slowed sharply to about 7.2 percent compared to the first quarter of 2025.
An analyst said this was the fastest market share loss in a quarter and far below the industry growth rate of 23 percent.
The loss was attributed to new market challengers moving into the highly lucrative space.
The slowdown came even as total costs and expenses during the six-month period surged 45 percent to P12.15 billion, which includes franchise fees, ads, and promotions.
As a result, this analyst is projecting PLUS’ market share to settle at 30–35 percent, which is close to its regional peers.
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
