Tuesday, April 08, 2008 Cebu Pacific suspends IPO, waits on market
Due to poor market conditions, Cebu Pacific (CEB) has postponed plans to go public this year.
Its initial public offering (IPO) was supposed to be done before the end of 2007.
The airline wanted to enlist under the Philippine Stock Exchange within the first quarter of this year.
But an airline official assured the delay will not affect its other plans.
“We are in no hurry to go public,” said Candice Iyog, vice president for marketing and product.
At the moment, CEB does not have a timeline on deciding to push through with the IPO.
It will instead focus more on its expansion plans.
She also said that its current expansion efforts do not affect the cash flow as well as the company’s decision to defer its IPO.
“Our investors believe that it is better to wait for market conditions to improve,” she added.
Expansion
Aside from additional planes to its fleet, Iyog said that CEB will open a hub in Davao next month, allowing it to establish its presence in Luzon, Visayas and the Mindanao.
They also plan to remain as the country’s only budget carrier since they believe that having low fares “fills the plane.”
Low fares
Iyog cited that the Cebu-Hongkong rate is just P1,499—the lowest in the market. CEB has already introduced the P1 seat rate promos on some of its domestic flights.
Iyog confirmed that the airline is also currently working with airport authorities to try to come up with a process to minimize the delay of flights.
She attributed most of CEB’s delayed flights last year to “a lot of operational issues” caused by external factors. (DME)
