Pangilinan-led PLDT Inc. on Wednesday reiterated its commitment to stay transparent in disclosing information involving developments on the company's reported capital expenditure overrun that hit as much as P48 billion in the last four years.

"We reiterate that PLDT remains committed to transparency and will continue to release timely official statements and disclosures that are based on fact, to apprise the investing public, especially its shareholders, of relevant information," PLDT said in a report to the stock exchange on Wednesday.

"We encourage everyone to focus on these official statements and disclosures from the company to obtain accurate information," it added.

PLDT also refuted media reports that United States-based companies are investigating the likelihood of PLDT violating US federal securities laws amid budget discrepancies.

Detrimental stories
"In the past month, there have been various write-ups circulating in the public space that contain inaccurate information. These write-ups have been detrimental not only to PLDT but ultimately and more importantly, to the shareholders of the company," PLDT said.

As the company navigates through its capex issues, PLDT assures stakeholders that the profitability of the business remains healthy and unaffected.

PLDT said EBITDA this year, an indicator of profitability, is unaffected by the capital expenditure overrun and is on track to hit P100 billion as originally indicated.

The telco's core net income is also within guidance as it is expected to reach between P32.6 billion to P33 billion.

Meanwhile, PLDT expects to pay the balance of the regular dividend for the full year 2022 estimated at P45 per share, and the remaining special dividend of P42 per share.

"This would bring total dividends for 2022 to P134 per share or 88 percent of 2022 expected earnings," the company said.

According to PLDT, the budget overrun was expected to be mitigated by the gains from its P77-billion sale and leaseback agreement. It recently announced another deal amounting to P9.2 billion.