75 brokers report 1995 losses

75 brokers report 1995 losses

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) disclosed
yesterday that the number of money-losing securities companies on
the capital market increased to 75 last year from 70 in 1994.

"The number of securities firms that booked profits declined
from 119 companies in 1994 to only 103 last year," a director of
the JSX, Mas Achmad Daniri, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

He said the JSX has received financial reports from 178 of the
197 member securities companies. Three of the 19 securities
companies which have not submitted reports have different
financial years, and the remaining 16 companies were inactive
during the entire year.

"It's positive that the profits recorded by the 103 companies
in 1995 reached Rp 112.5 billion, slightly higher than the Rp
108.7 billion booked by the 119 firms in 1994," Daniri said.

He denied that local securities firms might have failed to
compete with joint venture companies last year.

"Some joint venture companies also suffered losses last year,"
he contended, "but it's not fair to disclose their names because
they are not public companies."

"I would say that it's not true that local companies are
weaker than joint ventures. Local companies like Bomar Securities
or Mashill Securities have also been very active," he said.

Daniri said the move to the new building in the Sudirman
central business district might have forced many securities
companies to spend more on rent.

A director of PT Sigma Batara, Ignasius Yonan, however, said
tighter competition among securities companies was the main
reason for the losses.

"I would say that it's natural selection that more and more
small companies will suffer losses because they fail to compete
with the bigger ones," Ignasius said.

He argued that the increased transaction value should mean
that more companies booked profits.

The JSX last year recorded total transactions of Rp 32
trillion, about 26 percent higher the Rp 25 trillion in 1994.

Sales volume also rose from five billion shares in 1994 to 10
billion shares last year.

"It implies that the market activities were driven by some
major securities companies. I believe that the situation will not
change, meaning that there will be more companies reporting
losses this year," Yonan told the Post. (08)