Bakrie expects sales to double

Bakrie expects sales to double

PT Bakrie & Brothers, a company with interests from property to
telecommunications, expects sales to double this year, helped by
the plantation and infrastructure businesses, an official said.

"We are making a turnaround this year," said Bobby Gafur
Sulistyo Umar, president director, in a telephone interview in
Jakarta.

The company expects sales to increase to Rp 2.5 trillion
(US$249 million) this year from Rp 1.23 trillion last year.
Infrastructure is expected to contribute 55 percent of the
company's sales, plantation 31 percent and telecommunications 14
percent, Gafur said.

He declined to provide a profit target this year. Last year,
the company posted a loss of Rp 61 billion.

The company bought back $172 million of debt from its foreign
creditors, including Itochu Corp. of Japan, helping it to ease
the pressure of servicing overseas debt, Gafur said.

Many companies here are reporting higher revenue as the
economy, Southeast Asia's largest, expands, boosting consumer
spending and investment.

The government expects the economy will grow 6 percent this
year, compared with 5.1 percent last year.

PT South East Asia Pipe Industries, a unit of Bakrie &
Brothers, and its partner won a contract to supply as much as
53,000 metric tons of pipes valued at $84 million to state gas
distributor PT Perusahaan Gas Negara by May next year.

The company will supply four-fifths of the 53,000 metric tons
of undersea pipes that will be used to connect Lampung and West
Java provinces, South East Asia Pipe Industries' President Abas
F. Soeriawidjaja said on Oct. 31.

The remaining pipes will be supplied by Bakrie's partner.
South East Asia Pipe Industries has the capacity to make 150,000
tons of pipes a year. The company supplies pipes to state oil
company PT Pertamina and ConocoPhillips in Indonesia. --
Bloomberg