Astra's revenues rise but its profits decline
Astra's revenues rise but its profits decline
JAKARTA (JP): PT Astra International reported a 13.7 percent increase in its first quarter net revenues to Rp 3.2 trillion (US$1.5 billion) but suffered a decline of around 20 percent in its net profit to Rp 73 billion.
Astra, the country's largest automobile company listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange, announced yesterday that its automotive division contributed Rp 2.1 trillion, or a 5 percent rise from the same period last year, to the net revenues.
The heavy-equipment division contributed Rp 433 billion, or a 7.6 percent rise, the agribusiness (plantations) division Rp 73 billion (up 36.9 percent), the electronics division Rp 116 billion (up 167.2 percent) and other divisions Rp 116 billion (up 88.9 percent), the company added.
Astra's consolidated financial report for the first quarter, which covered 125 subsidiaries and affiliates, said national automobile sales declined by 11.45 percent to 74,544 units in the first quarter, of which 40,047 units were sold by Astra.
Astra's automobile sales of Toyota, Daihatsu, Isuzu, BMW, Peugeot and Nissan makes decreased by 9.33 percent from those in the first quarter of last year but its share of the domestic market increased to 53.61 percent from 52.47 percent.
The report added that Astra's Honda accounted for 130,030 of the 271,009 motorcycles sold in the country in the first quarter.
Astra's vice president for public relations Aminuddin blamed the lower net profit on the increases in the costs of marketing, depreciation and loan interest.
Astra estimated last month that its total revenues for the whole of 1996 will increase slightly to Rp 13.5 trillion from Rp 13 trillion last year but its net profits will decline to Rp 350 billion from an estimated Rp 370 billion last year.
The company acknowledged that the projected decrease in its net earnings for this year is because the company expects to see a decline in its automobile sales from 379,000 units last year to some 310,000 units this year.
Most analysts also have estimated that the introduction of Timor cars, which will be exempted from import duty and the luxury sales tax, will affect the sales of other cars which do not enjoy the duty and tax breaks. Timor cars are due to enter the market in September. (vin)