Operator

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Second Quarter 2026 Analyst Briefing of Globe Telecom.

So we will begin with a video presentation of our performance and a few updates on the digital platform businesses, to be followed by the Q&A session.

Unknown Executive

Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Globe’s Second Quarter 2026 Analyst Briefing.

To begin the presentation, we are pleased to report that notwithstanding external headwinds, Globe sustained its growth momentum and achieved a record-breaking quarter. Consolidated gross service revenues climbed to a new all-time high of PHP 85.4 billion for the first 6 months of 2026, growing by 6% year-on-year. Data-driven revenues accounted for 91% of consolidated service revenues, reinforcing Globe’s continued transformation toward a more diversified, higher-quality and sustainable revenue base. The robust first half results were further supported by Globe’s highest quarterly service revenues on record.

Consolidated GSR amounted to PHP 43.4 billion in the second quarter up 3% quarter-on-quarter and exceeding the previous record set during the seasonally strong fourth quarter of 2025. The quarter’s performance was driven by broad-based growth across Globe’s core connectivity businesses. Globe’s EBITDA reached PHP 44.9 billion in the first 6 months, increasing 6% year-on-year, while EBITDA margin remained resilient at 52.6%, well above the company’s full year guidance. Top line growth more than offset the increase in operating expenses and subsidy, generating operating leverage that enabled Globe to invest in its network and digital infrastructure.

In the second quarter, EBITDA increased 2% from the previous quarter to

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The shares of Power Finance Corporation (PFC) dropped more than 5% on Monday after the company reported a 2% year-on-year increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 7,012 crore for the first quarter of FY27, with Motilal Oswal Financial Services slashing earnings estimates.

PFC shares dropped to Rs 398 apiece on the NSE on Monday morning, the lowest level seen by the stock in more than four months. On Friday, the company reported a slight decline in revenue from operations to Rs 28,527 crore in Q1 FY27, from Rs 28,539 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.

Along with the Q1 results, PFC announced an interim dividend of Rs 3.90 per share with a face value of Rs 10 each for the ongoing financial year 2027. The record date to determine the eligibility of shareholders set to receive the dividend has been fixed on August 27 (Thursday).

Also read |From Titan to Lupin, Motilal Oswal analysts rate buy, hold or skip on 11 stocks post Q1

Motilal Oswal on PFC share price

Motilal Oswal Financial Services noted that the company’s standalone net profit grew nearly 5% YoY to Rs 4,750 crore, beating estimates. Net interest income (NII), however, declined 4%, missing expectations.

PFC indicated that the decline in lending yields during the quarter was in line with expectations, reflecting lower lending rates on both the existing and incremental loan portfolio amid the declining interest rate environment, Motilal noted. Going forward, the company will continue to calibrate its lending rates in line with market conditions while balancing growth and spreads, it added.
The domestic brokerage cut its FY27 and FY28 EPS estimates for PFC by 2% and 5%, respectively, primarily to reflect lower loan growth and margin contraction, partly offset by lower credit costs. It maintained its ‘Buy’ rating on PFC shares, but reduced its target price to Rs 500 per share. This implies upside potential of more than 19% from the stock’s previous closing price of Rs 420 per share on NSE.

PFC share price

PFC shares have fallen more than 5% in a week and nearly 2% in a month, but have overall gained nearly 10% in 2026 so far. This comes as the company heads for its mega merger with REC.

In the longer term, PFC shares have fallen 1.45% over one year, but delivered positive returns of 87% over three years and more than 288% over five years. The company currently has a market capitalisation of nearly Rs 1.32 lakh crore.

Also read | SBI shares rise nearly 2% after Q1 beat. Here’s what Nomura, Morgan Stanley and other top brokerages expect next

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

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UK gilt yields are expected to fall over the remainder of the year, analysts and investors have said, a shift that would help restore the £10 billion to £12 billion of fiscal headroom lost to rising borrowing costs since February before the budget on 28 October.

The forecasts come weeks after Andy Burnham’s new government took office and ahead of John Healey’s first budget as chancellor.

Analysts and investors said the UK’s inflation outlook supports the chances of interest rate cuts. Concerns about the credibility of Kevin Warsh, the new chairman of the US Federal Reserve, and a more expansionary fiscal environment in Japan are other factors they said could lead investors to choose gilts over other assets.

Daniel von Ahlen, a strategist at TS Lombard, said bond investors should “double down on gilts” in the coming months, and said UK bond prices would rise relative to peers in Japan, the US and Germany.

Markets are pricing in two Bank of England rate rises over the next year, but Von Ahlen said there was a higher likelihood that borrowing costs would be cut “as the labour market remains in the doldrums”.

The stakes for the Treasury are set out in the arithmetic of the public finances. The rise in gilt yields since February, when the US-Iran war broke out, has removed about £10 billion to £12 billion from the headroom the government holds against its fiscal rules. A 1 percentage point increase in the ten-year gilt yield adds £12 billion to £15 billion to the government’s debt interest bill.

Gilts have been among the worst-performing government bonds this year, with the UK economy the most exposed to the energy price shock caused by the Middle East conflict. But the past three inflation readings have undershot the Bank of England’s estimates, suggesting the spillover from higher oil prices into the rest of the economy has been limited.

That improvement showed up in July, when gilts outperformed their peers. Total monthly returns on UK bonds were flat, compared with a fall of 1.2 per cent for US treasuries and a 0.7 per cent decline for German bonds, according to Deutsche Bank.

Mark Dowding, chief investment officer at RBC Blue Bay Asset Management, who has had a pessimistic view of gilts this year, said he was no more “constructive on the near-term outlook” for UK government debt after the Bank of England’s latest meeting.

“The doveish bias of the monetary policy committee may encourage investors to add exposure [to gilts],” Dowding said.

Analysts at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, said they had a “neutral” position on gilts, compared with underweight, or reduced, exposure to Japanese government debt and long-term US government bonds.

Japanese government bonds have been the worst-performing significant debt class this year, as the world’s third-largest economy prepares to raise interest rates from record lows and a new government maintains expansionary fiscal policy through tax cuts and investment spending. The US intervened last week to support Japan’s weakening currency and warned that the sell-off in Japanese bonds could spill over into US treasuries.

The UK’s borrowing costs could fall further this year as the Bank of England is expected to reduce the pace at which it sells gilts on its balance sheet back to investors. Analysts at Bank of America said the Bank would cut its annual pace of quantitative tightening from £70 billion to £50 billion from September.

The wealth manager is headquartered in Bristol

The UK’s largest DIY investment platform is requiring staff to return to the office from the beginning of next year. Hargreaves Lansdown will mandate employees attend the workplace three days a week, shortly after it relocates to its new Bristol headquarters.

The company announced plans last year to move its 2,000-strong workforce to the new site by Temple Meads station after 40 years on Anchor Road.

The wealth manager, which was bought by private equity firms including CVC Capital Partners in 2024 for £5.4bn, has not previously imposed a minimum office attendance requirement, according to reports in the Financial Times.

The compulsory office days will follow the firm’s strategy to transition employees into its new premises in phases from September, giving them time to adjust to the new environment.

The move comes as some staff seldom visit the office, according to one person with knowledge of the decision, making collaboration between employees more difficult.

Hargreaves Lansdown, which employs 2,400 people, confirmed the arrangements and said there remained “flexibility” for its workforce, as reported by City AM.

The investment platform’s decision to bring staff back to the office mirrors that of other organisations.

Companies have been choosing to recall workers in an attempt to end the widespread remote working that emerged during the Covid pandemic.

This includes British lender TSB, which is requiring staff to return to the office three days per week from April next year, up from the current two, to align with Santander’s policy following its acquisition by the Spanish bank.

JPMorgan Chase also instructed all staff to return to the office last week, though thousands of employees worldwide signed a petition opposing the decision.

Conversely, some City institutions have been easing office requirements amid the UK’s succession of heatwaves.

In June, JPMorgan Chase was amongst the organisations letting employees off the hook, alongside ING and Deutsche.

Lloyd’s of London also permitted staff to work remotely from its historic City headquarters in late July as the Square Mile prepared for another week of soaring temperatures.

Hargreaves Lansdown has encountered substantial competition in recent years, as digital upstarts and cheaper, rapidly expanding competitors, including AJ Bell and Interactive Investor, attracted customers away.

The platform is seeking to modernise its technology and revamped its fee structure earlier this year, reducing costs for the majority of clients. However, this resulted in a small proportion facing higher charges.

The Grade I listed venue is the county’s second most-visited tourist attraction after Stonehenge

An Elizabethan turret forming part of the roofline of Longleat House is to be restored following an infestation by deathwatch beetles.

Wiltshire Council has granted conservationists at the Grade I listed Longleat House – the county’s second most-visited tourist destination after Stonehenge – listed building consent to carry out repairs.

The structure is one of three octagonal lanterns and stair turrets designed by Robert Smythson in the 1560s, when or just after the house was built, and is regarded as “of high significance.”

Specialists informed Wiltshire Council the turret has been affected by “long-term water ingress through its exposed domed masonry roof and upper blind windows.”

They also noted the moisture had enabled deathwatch beetles to attack timber beams.

Known for its tapping sounds during the night, supposedly signalling misfortune, the deathwatch beetle is a destructive wood-boring pest. In properties, their burrowing can lead to substantial damage.

“Combined with a lack of ventilation, this has resulted in damage to internal finishes and decay to the ceiling and floor structure below,” Wiltshire planners were told.

“The proposals seek to undertake essential structural repairs and address this water ingress, to create a dry and ventilated turret space, while also improving access for ongoing and future maintenance.

“These works are intended to ensure that the turret structure and the rooms beneath are better protected from further deterioration and potential harm.”

The eight-sided turret positioned on the western wall of the eastern courtyard at Longleat House.

It can only be seen clearly from outside when viewed from the house rooftop, with partial glimpses available from the Horningsham entrance drive to the south and the parkland to the east.

Restoration work will be carried out on a like-for-like basis.

Dr Alyssa Grocutt, who is herself heavily tattooed, explored perceptions of tattoos in the workplace for her PhD at the University of Calgary in Canada, and found many stereotypes around tattooed people still exist today, both positive and negative.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, people with intimidating tattoos – in this study, a skull and a knife – were perceived as risky, while those with “friendly” tattoos of a rose and some leaves were perceived as more creative and artistic.

Overall, job applicants with visible tattoos are still slightly less likely to be hired than those without, she says.

But for entrepreneurs, or those working in creative industries, Grocutt suggests they may be viewed as an extension of someone’s personal brand.

“Even 11 years ago, when I started getting tattooed, the hands, neck and face were called ‘job stoppers’, and a lot of artists wouldn’t tattoo people in those areas,” she says.

“I think it’s shifting a bit or maybe tattoo artists don’t want to be gatekeepers. There’s more positive perceptions now, [but] you still get a lot more attention, and that’s an adjustment to get used to.”