BCA forecasts 2001 pre-tax profit of Rp 1.84 trillion
BCA forecasts 2001 pre-tax profit of Rp 1.84 trillion
JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed Bank Central Asia (BCA) said on
Thursday it was projecting this year's pre-tax profit to hit Rp
1.84 trillion (about US$174 million), or slightly up on last
year's Rp 1.60 trillion.
BCA president Setijoso said here on Thursday that to achieve
the target, the bank would continue expanding its technology
network and banking products.
"On the credit side, BCA will prioritize prudential banking
principles by emphasizing the trade, services, farming, and
export-oriented manufacturing sectors," Setijoso told the press
following an extraordinary meeting of the bank's shareholders.
BCA, Indonesia's largest private bank, operates 794 branch
offices, 2,072 ATMs, and has almost 8 million accounts.
Setijoso further said that BCA's capital adequacy ratio (CAR)
for this year was set to increase to 37.93 percent from 33.84
percent the year before.
At the same time, BCA also planned to extend loans worth about
Rp 13.2 trillion this year as against Rp 8.2 trillion in the
previous year.
For last year's financial results, BCA reported net interest
income of Rp 2.27 trillion, which was a turnaround from the
previous year's net interest loss of Rp 4.21 trillion.
The bank extended loans of Rp 8.2 trillion in 2000, surging up
from Rp 4.24 trillion in 1999.
"The loans channeled throughout 2000, also included those the
bank had bought from IBRA (the Indonesian Bank Restructuring
Agency), either through tenders or directly," Setijoso explained.
During the meeting, shareholders also approved BCA's quasi-
reorganization move or accounting procedure adjustment to
eliminate deficits from its balance sheet.
Under the new accounting procedure, the bank injected
additional capital of about Rp 29.5 trillion to offset the bank's
loss carried forward of Rp 25.5 trillion.
The additional capital was taken from the bank's retained
earnings, and the capital gain booked during the bank's public
offering early last year.
The quasi-reorganization, however, caused a significant drop
in the bank's income and lowered total assets and liabilities by
Rp 17.8 billion.
"The implementing of the quasi-reorganization, however, does
not alter the share ownership of either the minority or majority
owners," Setijoso added.
BCA is 72 percent owned by the government, 22.5 percent by the
investing public, with the remaining shares being held by the old
owner which is the Salim Group.
The Salim Group had to surrender most of its stake as assets
pledged to IBRA, after the agency took over its unpaid loans in
several local banks.
The shareholders also approved management plans to split the
bank's stock in a bid to boost its liquidity in the stock market.
The move, for which no date has been decided yet, would split
BCA's nominal share price from Rp 500 to Rp 250, allowing
existing shareholders to receive a new share for every old share
they hold.
The share split will also double the number of the bank's
total shares to 5.89 billion.
"The reason behind the stock split is to increase liquidity of
BCA shares, and allow the bank to enter the main trading board at
the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX)," Soetijoso said.
He said that by entering the JSX's main trading board the bank
would attract the interest of potential long-term investors.
The government plans to divest more of its stake in BCA
sometime in mid-2001.
Initially, the divestment was set for late last year, but
legislators blocked the move on fears that unfavorable market
conditions would cause the bank to be undervalued. (bkm)