ABS-CBN stocks surged to the 50% daily limit following the announcement of ABS-CBN and ZOE Broadcasting Network’s partnership which will enable Kapamilya shows to return to free TV.
On Wednesday, October 7, ABS-CBN stock price jumped to 13.50, a 6.74 pesos increase from its lowest stock price of 6.76 this year following their free TV shutdown on May 5.
Prior to 13.5, it even reached 14.78 pesos on Tuesday as rumors of their free TV comeback grew louder.
According to COL Financial’s April Lee Tan, ABS-CBN’s surge in share price is brought about by the confirmation of the network’s block time deal ZOE TV.
“The strong performance is due to confirmation that it was able to do block time deal with Zoe TV,” said Tan in a text message to Philstar.
Arielle Santos of Regina Capital also connected the surge to the news about the blocktime deal.
“I think that today’s rally can be due to the word on the street saying that ABS had secured a blocktime deal with Zoe TV,” said Santos
Aside from share price, ABS-CBN’s market capitalization has also increased to P11.58 billion from its all-time low of under P6 billion.
“What I can say is that the deal will help ABS buoy its revenue to some extent, as the return of the company to free TV entails advertisers being attracted yet again to secure commercial slots with the network,” Santos added.
Meanwhile, aside from ABS-CBN Corp. its holding firm ABS-CBN Holdings Corp’s share price also jumped 50% at 3.12 pesos brought about by the ZOE TV deal.
Its parent company Lopez Holdings Corp. on the other hand has also ridden the tide of investor’s optimism as it climbed 21% closing at P3.02 per share.
Investors also hailed ABS-CBN’s wise strategy to air entertainment shows for the meantime holding off its flagship news program TV Patrol to avoid unleashing President Duterte’s wrath again who’s vocal about his displeasure to the network and its news reporting.
ABS-CBN has started showing its programs over A2Z on Saturday, October 10, with It’s Showtime formally opening the Kapamilya shows return to free TV. FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano, Ang Sa Iyo ay Akin, and Walang Hanggang Paalam also made a debut with the marathon run of its previous episodes. ASAP meanwhile will start airing over A2Z Channel on Sunday noon, October 11.