Barito's profits drop by over 50 percent

Barito's profits drop by over 50 percent

JAKARTA (JP): The net income after tax of timber giant PT
Barito Pacific Timber plunged by over 50 percent to Rp 147.17
billion (US$67 million) last year, from Rp 310.15 billion in
1993.

The company announced yesterday that, as a consequence of the
1994 result, net income per share would be more than halved to Rp
105, down from Rp 253 in the previous year.

The company attributed the sharp drop in net earnings to a
lower gross profit margin resulting from lower prices, higher
costs for logs, and higher expenses generally.

"At the same time, the company's tax rose, with the effective
rate up 43.3 percent, reflecting the combined impact of no more
tax losses carried forward and a reduction in the tax write-off
attributable to the amortization of the go-public expense," the
company said in the statement.

Excluding the sum of Rp 13.39 billion generated by Barito's
non-timber subsidiary, PT Griya Idola Real Estate, net revenues
from the timber sector for 1994 totaled Rp 861,98 billion, a
decrease of 11.92 percent over the previous year.

The decrease was mainly due to a 14.67 percent decrease in the
average selling price of all products from US$391.87 per cubic
meter in 1993 to $334.4 per cubic meter in 1994, and partly due
to a drop in sales volume, from 1.18 million cubic meters in 1993
to 1.17 million cubic meters in 1994.

Plywood prices were sharply corrected in 1994 after reaching
record highs in the previous year. The drop was triggered by
weaker demand and increasing competition in Barito's major
overseas markets.

The price of Barito shares, which are listed on Jakarta and
Surabaya stock exchanges, have dropped more than 30 percent from
Rp 3,600 in January to Rp 2,675 early this week on the company's
weakened performance.

The company's management, however, is confident that 1995 will
be a better year, in line with an improvement in market
conditions in Japan.(hen)