DigiPlus Interactive Corp. has revived its share buyback programme with an authorised budget of about PHP5.36 billion ($87 million), renewing the initiative for another 12 months just days after a group of shareholders called on the board to step up capital returns and argued the company’s shares remain deeply undervalued.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Thursday, the company said its board had approved the revival of the “Share Buy-Back Program.” The renewed buyback comes three days after investment foundations linked to Poland’s Juroszek family published an open letter urging DigiPlus to extend its repurchase programme, arguing that buying back shares represented the best use of the company’s capital while its stock trades at what they described as a steep discount to global peers.
The latest authorisation follows DigiPlus’ first buyback programme, announced in July 2025, when the board approved a PHP6 billion ($97.4 million) repurchase plan to support investor confidence after the company’s shares came under pressure amid regulatory concerns surrounding the Philippine online gaming sector.
At the time, DigiPlus said the buyback would be funded through internal cash flows and run for 12 months, with the option for the board to extend the programme.
Shareholders push for larger buyback
In their 6 July open letter, the Betplay Capital Foundation, ZJ Foundation and MJ Foundation, which together own about 1.4 per cent of DigiPlus, described a renewed share repurchase as “the single most value-accretive action available to DigiPlus today.”
“We urge the Board to pursue a substantial share buyback programme at current prices, which we believe is by far the greatest value creation opportunity available to shareholders today,” the shareholders wrote.
The investment foundations said DigiPlus remains “the lowest-valued B2C operator in the entire peer group across every major valuation metric,” despite what they described as strong long-term fundamentals and continued market leadership in the Philippines.
According to the letter, DigiPlus trades at about 2.4 times the expected 2026 EV/EBITDA and 0.4 times EV/Sales, compared with substantially higher median multiples among listed global gaming operators.
The shareholders estimated that applying peer median valuation multiples to DigiPlus would imply a share price of around PHP30, representing more than 150 per cent upside from recent trading levels.
“The shares are so far below any reasonable estimate of fair value that buying them back is worth more to shareholders than any other use of that capital we can identify,” the letter said.
The investors also argued that DigiPlus has the financial capacity to support a larger repurchase programme, citing more than PHP20 billion ($324.6 million) in cash and minimal debt. They suggested that non-essential land-based capital expenditure could be deferred in favour of buying back shares while the stock continues to trade below what they consider fair value.
The letter further said a consistent buyback would increase earnings and free cash flow per share, demonstrate confidence in the company’s valuation, create additional market demand for the stock and provide a more tax-efficient way of returning capital than dividends.
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