Bakrie, Astra expect slight impact from rupiah fall
Bakrie, Astra expect slight impact from rupiah fall
JAKARTA (JP): Bimantara Citra, Astra International, Barito
Pacific and Bakrie Group expect no major impact from the sharp
fall in rupiah against the U.S. dollar.
Bimantara's finance director Abdul Kadir Assegaf said the fall
in rupiah would only have a slight impact given the small amount
of the company's foreign loans.
"Our debt in U.S. dollars is very small," Abdul Kadir said at
an investors forum held in conjunction with a two-day capital
market conference here yesterday.
He said Bimantara's new subsidiary, PT Usaha Gedung Bimantara,
which manages and operates the company's headquarters in Kebon
Sirih, Central Jakarta, secured a US$80 million loan last month.
The $80 million loan, he said, is the only foreign loan owed
by the business group.
He said Usaha Gedung Bimantara could suffer a loss of Rp 26
billion (US$9.45 million) this year because it needed more rupiah
in paying the loan.
He said if the loss was consolidated, Bimantara Citra would
suffer a loss of between Rp 11 billion and Rp 13 billion.
"But the loss is based on the assumption that the rupiah
exchange rate against the U.S. dollar is set at Rp 2,900," he
said.
Kadir Assegaf declined to mention the company's financial
target this year but said that Bimantara Citra recorded a total
revenue of Rp 73 billion in the first semester this year. "This
was an increase of 13 percent compared to the same period last
year," he said.
The Indonesian rupiah has been under speculative pressure
recently following the devaluation of the Thai baht and
Philippine peso early last month.
Rupiah has lost about 20 percent this year from Rp 2,398 early
January to Rp 2,880 yesterday. This month alone, the currency
lost about 9 percent.
Astra
Finance director of the country's largest automaker company PT
Astra International, Rini M Soewandi, said Thursday that Astra
International was not greatly affected by the rupiah's
depreciation.
"The rupiah depreciation has a tiny impact on Astra because
the company has swapped its U.S. dollar, Japanese Yen and Deutsch
Mark," she told reporters Thursday.
Despite the weakening rupiah, Rini said Astra International
was still optimistic to reach its Rp 601 billion net profit
target this year.
Besides swapping the company's debt, Rini said, Astra
International would also boost the sales of its new-model Kijang
and four-wheel drive vehicles this year.
Barito
Meanwhile, PT Barito Pacific Timber said the fall in rupiah
would be a windfall profit for the company.
Managing director of Makindo Securities, Gunawan Yusuf, told
an investors forum Thursday that Barito Pacific, which exports
most of its wood products, could receive an additional revenue of
about Rp 75 billion in the first semester this year due to the
drop in the rupiah against the U.S. dollar.
"Barito Pacific will be among the companies that benefit from
the rupiah depreciation," he said.
Barito's executive said most of the company's products were
exported to Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, the United States,
Taiwan, the Middle East and Europe.
"Although 40 percent of the products are exported to Japan,
the sales are paid in U.S. dollars," Barito's executive, Susana
said.
Bakrie Group's Bakrie & Brothers said the company did not have
any problems with the rupiah depreciation as most of the
company's debt, namely its long-term debts, would mature in three
to five years.
"Bakrie & Brothers has assumed a depreciation of between 5
percent and 6 percent in our initial calculation," the company's
president Tanri Abeng told an investors forum Thursday.
"Given the rupiah's depreciation is higher than our project,
we estimate it will decline again to between 5 percent and 6
percent," he said. (aly)