Astra sells stake in Sumalindo
Astra sells stake in Sumalindo
JAKARTA: PT Astra International said Monday it has sold a 74.56 percent stake in plywood producer PT Sumalindo Lestari Jaya for Rp 13.98 billion (US$1.23 million) to unlisted PT Sumber Graha Sejahtera.
The sale and purchase agreement for Sumalindo was signed Monday in Jakarta, Astra said in a statement.
Analysts in Jakarta say the sale of Sumalindo is also in line with the company's plan to sell assets and issue rights shares to refinance its debt.
Astra, which is 32 percent owned by Singapore's Cycle & Carriage Ltd., has debt worth $726 million and Rp 881 billion, with annual payments due until 2006.
The company needs to restructure its debt after admitting it will have trouble meeting the debt payments due later this year and in 2003. Astra will have debt worth Rp 165 billion and $135 million maturing by December. -- Dow Jones
;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. CorporateBrief-Pegadaian-profit Pegadaian posts Rp 57b in profit JP/14/brief
Pegadaian posts Rp 57b in profit
JAKARTA: Indonesia's state-owned pawnshop operator Perum Pegadaian boosted its net profit to Rp 57.95 billion (around US$6.2 million) in the first six months of the year from Rp 31.42 billion a year earlier, it said Monday.
The company added revenues rose to Rp 370.22 billion in the first six months of the year from Rp 250.70 billion a year earlier.
It added its equity rose to Rp 534.96 billion from Rp 452.18 billion, whereas total liabilities increased to Rp 1.79 trillion from Rp 1.38 trillion mostly because the company issued Rp 300 billion of bonds earlier this year.
Pegadaian bonds are among the most frequently traded in the local secondary bond market. -- Dow Jones
;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. CorporateBrief-CPC-oil CPC to raise oil prices by 5.55% JP/14/brief
CPC to raise oil prices by 5.55%
TAIPEI: Taiwan's state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp. said Monday it is raising its gasoline and diesel prices an average of 5.55 percent from Tuesday due to rising global oil prices.
Unleaded gasoline will be raised by NT$1.0 (US$29) per liter and diesel by $0.5, a company statement said.
Separately, it is raising the fuel oil price by NT$180 or an average 2.59 percent per kiloliter.
Such price hikes have been driven by higher global crude oil prices, with an increase of $1.0 in the crude oil price translating to an increase in costs for the company by NT$7.0 billion a year.
The company should have raised the gasoline price by over NT$2.0 per liter to fully mirror the higher crude oil price if negative impacts on consumers and economy were not taken into consideration, it added. -- AFP
;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. CorporateBrief-ATV-China ATV allowed to broadcast in China JP/14/brief
ATV allowed to broadcast in China
HONG KONG: Hong Kong-based Asia Television Ltd. (ATV) said Monday it will become the territory's first TV station in mainland China after gaining approval to broadcast in southern Guangdong province.
ATV said in a statement it has been given approval by the State Administration for Radio, Film and Television to beam its two free-to-air channels -- ATV World and ATV Home -- to the Pearl River Delta region.
Chief executive Chan Wing-kee hailed the approval as a "giant step forward" that will boost ATV's future business development and provide it with more opportunities to cooperate with other stations in Guangdong.
However, Chan maintained ATV would remain a local television station and that is programs would continue to cater to the tastes of Hong Kong viewers. -- AFP
;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. CorporateBrief-Opel-forecast Opel revises loss forecast lower JP/14/brief
Opel revises loss forecast lower
FRANKFURT: Troubled German automaker Opel is expected to record losses of 400 million euros (around US$392 million) this year, down from 500 million in previous company forecasts, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported Monday.
Quoting sources close to the company, the paper said the German arm of U.S. giant General Motors had revised down its losses following better sales in the first seven months of 2002 and increased orders by the end of the year.
"It is too early to confirm the figures. But we have always said that we were going to greatly reduce our operating losses for this year and we are now in that position," Opel spokesman Ulrich Weber told AFP.
Opel lost 674 million euros last year, but has enacted a vast cost-cutting program. -- AFP
;Agencies; ANPAf..r.. CorporateBrief-Hitachi-Seiki-collapses JP/14/brief
Hitachi Seiki collapses: report
TOKYO: Japanese industry machinery maker Hitachi Seiki Co. Ltd. sought court protection from creditors on Monday buried under liabilities of US$427 million, Kyodo News agency said.
Hitachi Seiki applied for the Civil Rehabilitation Law as it could no longer bear the brunt of plunging sales caused by the bursting of the nation's bubble economy in the early 1990s, Kyodo said.
The company also cited the yen's appreciation against the dollar and stagnant economic activity overseas, it said.
Hitachi Seki's liabilities totaled 50.4 billion yen on a parent-only basis as of the end of June.
The company, controlled 5.7 percent by Nissan Fire and Marine Insurance and 4.8 percent by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, has no capital relationship with electronics giant Hitachi Ltd. -- AFP