Bimantara Citra performs well, increase profit
Bimantara Citra performs well, increase profit
JAKARTA (JP): Publicly-listed PT Bimantara Citra has reported an 80 percent increase in its net consolidated profit for the first nine months of this year, to Rp 80.99 billion (US$35.4 million) from Rp 45.05 billion in the corresponding period of 1994.
Finance Director Kadir Assegaf said yesterday the net profit in the January-September period exceeded the net income of Rp 54.96 billion booked for the whole of 1994.
He attributed the sharp increase in the income to a significant contribution from the company's broadcasting and transportation arms, its most lucrative lines of business.
Bimantara and its subsidiaries, majority-owned by President Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, are involved in business activities including television broadcasting, telecommunications, infrastructure and financial services.
Kadir said that the group's media and broadcasting division, now comprised of only PT Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia (RCTI), contributed 38.21 percent to total earnings in the first nine months of this year. The transportation and automotive division contributed another 23.53 percent and the chemicals division about four percent.
He said that the earning contribution from the other six business lines, including telecommunications, infrastructure, property and financial services, remained insignificant because most of them were still in the construction stage.
The business group listed 200 million of its shares on the Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges in July this year.
"I am sure that in the next five years, the earning contribution from the broadcasting division will be surpassed by those from the infrastructure and telecommunications sectors," Kadir said
He added that RCTI's earnings surpassed their projected level in spite of the growing competition from the four other private television stations.
He said that RCTI's share in the television advertisement market was initially projected to decline to 35 percent this year, from 48 percent in 1994, as a result of the tighter competition.
"But the decline was much smaller than our estimate and we are happy to see that RCTI still controlled about 39 percent of the market in the January-September period," he said.
The broadcasting and transportation division's earnings would further support the group's consolidated profit in the fourth quarter, given the promising prospects in the market, he said. (hen)