Astra net profit up 44.6%

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta

Domestic automotive giant PT Astra International said on Friday that its unaudited net profit for the first half of the year ending June rose by 44.6 percent on stronger sales from its top three divisions.

The firm's net profit surged to Rp 2.6 trillion (US$288 million) in the first semester of this year from Rp 1.8 trillion in the same period last year.

"Our net income grew due to a significant contribution from the automotive division, mainly from the Daihatsu unit and Honda motorcycle unit, from financial services and from the agribusiness division," said Astra president Budi Setiadharma in a press statement.

The company recorded revenues of Rp 19.73 trillion in the first six months of the year, up by 25.9 percent from Rp 15.67 trillion last year, and its operating profit rose by 30.8 percent to Rp 2.18 trillion from Rp 1.67 trillion last year.

Astra said that sales of its cars had jumped by 47.6 percent to 106,237 units from 71,988 units previously as a result of strong sales of the lower-priced Toyota Avanza and Daihatsu Xenia multipurpose vehicles. The increase had raised the company's market share to 47 percent, up from 42.1 percent during the same period last year.

"Domestic car sales for the first semester of this year reached 226,178 units. Our projection for total 2004 car sales is approximately 400,000 units, which will surpass the pre-crisis total sales record of 387,000 units," said Budi.

The company's sales of Honda motorcycles also rose by 35.9 percent to 981,193 units in the first semester of this year, up from 722,112 units a year ago. However, Astra's share of the market declined to 49.1 percent from 53.2 percent previously due to capacity constraints.

Domestic motorcycle sales increased by 47.2 percent to 1.99 million units in the first semester of the year from 1.35 million units previously as a result of a greater variety of low-cost motorcycles introduced by competitors as well as the lower interest rates offered by financial institutions.

The significant growth in motorcycle and car sales also benefited Astra's financing division. The number of motorcycles financed by the company grew by 68.3 percent to 340,559 units in the first half, up from 202,339 in the corresponding period last year, while car financing grew by 62.8 percent to 48,964 units, up from 30,077 last year.

Astra also enjoyed a better performance in its agribusiness company. The sales volume of its crude palm oil (CPO) surged by 31.4 percent to 374,379 tons, up from 284,990 tons previously, while the average sales price of CPO rose by 18.5 percent to Rp 4,024 per kilogram, up from Rp 3,397.

Astra also reported that its gross profit margin slightly decreased to 23 percent from 23.7 percent previously as a result of the "deconsolidation" in August last year of PT Toyota Astra Motor (TAM), Toyota's distribution and production arm in Indonesia. Astra then cut down its stake in TAM's production unit.

However, the deconsolidation was partly compensated by an increased ownership in publicly listed heavy equipment firm PT United Tractor to 53.2 percent from 49.7 percent. United Tractor boosted Astra's revenue for this year.

Astra also recorded "profit from other income" of Rp 590 billion, up from Rp 390 billion previously due primarily to a gain on the sale of telecommunications firm PT Pramindo Ikat Nusantara.

Pramindo is a joint-operation (KSO) partner of PT Telkom in Sumatra, which was recently bought out by Telkom. Prior to the acquisition, Astra had a 59.5 percent stake in the firm. A third of Astra's shares are owned by Singapore-based Cycle & Carriage Ltd.