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DIGITAL Paradise Inc. (DPI), the owner and operator
of the Netopia Internet café, said losses dropped in the first
half of the year after it streamlined operations.
George H. Tan, DPI president,
told reporters that the company’s net loss went down by 70 percent
to P11 million over the same period last year.
“We’ve cut our losses by 70
percent and its very encouraging. This year, we expect a breakeven
point,” he said, noting that by next year it expects to become
profitable after years in the red.
Tan attributed the improvement to
the reduction of 18 unprofitable stores last year and efficient
operations.
The company’s revenue during
the period reached P168 million to P170 million or an average
monthly revenue of P27 million to P28 million.
About 55 percent of Netopia’s
business is generated from Internet surfing, communications,
training, educational research, 15 percent from online and LAN games
and 30 percent from the value-added services such as desktop
publishing, photo printing and retail sales of prepaid cards, game
cards and storage media.
Tan said Netopia intends to open
three new branches every month with an investment of around P1.5
million for each store.
At present, Netopia has 177
branches nationwide, of which 90 stores are company owned and the
remaining franchisee-held.
The company offers franchising
packages depending on the number of workstations. Franchise fees
start at P150,000 for the smallest package and P300,000 for the
largest. A franchisee invests P1.8 million to P2.6 million in the
business.
DPI is 75 percent owned by ePLDT,
the information communication and technology arm of the Philippine
Long Distance Telephone Co.
--Darwin G. Amojelar
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