Astra's profit rises 18 percent in five months

Astra's profit rises 18 percent in five months

Bloomberg, Jakarta

PT Astra International's profit rose 18 percent in the first five month of the year as Asia's biggest automobile retailer by market value sold more vehicles at home in Indonesia and overseas.

Net income rose to Rp 2.53 trillion (US$257 million) in the five months to May, Singapore's Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd., which owns 49.9 percent of Astra said in a statement filed to the Singapore stock exchange on Tuesday.

Astra, Indonesia's biggest automobile distributor, is expected to announce its first-half earnings this week. Sales rose 58 percent in the five-month period to Rp 24.3 trillion from a year earlier, the statement said.

In the first half, domestic car sales growth at Astra International slowed to 28 percent to 136,240 vehicles after rising 48 percent in the same period a year earlier, the company said in a statement earlier this month.

Astra sells cars made by Toyota Motor Corp. and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG.

Rival Honda Motor reported a 57 percent surge in first-half sales while Suzuki Motor boosted vehicle sales by 36 percent.

Astra International expects sales growth to slow to 20 percent in 2005 from 41 percent a year earlier, Budi Setiadharma, former president at the company said in May.

The company's share in the domestic market fell to 46.1 percent in the first six months of the year from 47 percent in the year earlier period, based on company data.

Astra International said motorcycle sales in the first six months of the year rose 31 percent to 1.28 million motorcycles from 981,193 in the same period a year earlier.

Astra International, which is also Indonesia's second- largest publicly traded company, reported a 44 percent rise in last year's first-half net income to Rp 2.6 trillion boosted by higher demand for cars and a surge in sales at its palm oil unit.

The palm oil unit, PT Astra Agro Lestari, the nation's biggest publicly traded agriculture company, on July 22 said profit in the first six months of 2005 fell 19 percent as prices of crude palm oil declined.

Net income in the six months ended June 30 fell to Rp 385.5 billion.

Astra International also owns companies such as PT United Tractors, a heavy equipment maker, and PT Astra Graphia a computer services company.

Astra International controls PT Bank Permata along with U.K.'s Standard Chartered Plc.