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