Astra's profit rises sharply

JAKARTA (JP): PT Astra International, Indonesia's largest producer of automobiles, yesterday reported a 79.12 percent increase in after-tax profits to Rp 114.43 billion (US$53 million) during the first semester of this year.

Astra's Senior General Manager Aminuddin said here yesterday that revenues increased by 48.22 percent to Rp 4.12 trillion in the January-June period from the same period of last year.

"The robust performance was attributed to such external factors as the buoyant macroeconomic condition, declining interest rates and internal factors such as gains in efficiency and better product performance," Aminuddin noted.

The company's earnings per share therefore increased by 49.24 percent to Rp 394, as compared to Rp 264 as of June last year.

"Of more encouraging is that Astra's net profit margin rose from 2.3 percent to a respectable 2.8 percent," Aminuddin added. (05)