BNI 1st-half profit up

BNI 1st-half profit up

JAKARTA: State Bank Negara Indonesian (BNI) said on Wednesday
its first-half net profit rose 7.7 percent to Rp 1.512 trillion
(about US$170 million), benefiting from Bank Indonesia's lower
benchmark rates over the period.

The bank said its interest costs fell by Rp 346 billion to Rp
5.317 trillion, and its interest earnings rose by 252 billion to
Rp 7.258 trillion.

Its unaudited first half capital adequacy ratio (CAR) stood at
18.22 percent, up from 17.28 percent last year.

"The decline in Bank Indonesia's rates has lowered the cost of
serving interest payments (on customer deposits)," said BNI's
director for risk management, Binsar Pangaribuan.

Bank Indonesia's benchmark rates have fallen by about two
percentage points on the back of a stronger rupiah in the first
six months of this year.

Binsar said BNI's overseas branches were also performing
better than last year. He gave no details, but said BNI had
branches in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York and London.
--JP

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ANPAf..r..
CorporateBriefs-Yellowpages-sold
Yellow pages sold for US$7.05b
JP/14/Brief1

Yellow pages sold for US$7.05b

DENVER, Colorado : Embattled telecoms group Qwest
Communications, struggling to lighten a heavy debt burden,
announced Tuesday it had struck a deal to sell its yellow pages
business for US$7.05 billion to a newly formed consortium.

Qwest shares shot up 31.70 percent on the news.

The group said its directories publishing business QwestDex
would be sold to a new entity formed by two private equity firms:
The Carlyle Group, and Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe.

Qwest is on a selling spree as it seeks to slash a mountain of
short-and long-term debts amounting to more than $25 billion,
revealed in company accounts this month.

"As we promised, we are moving aggressively to take the
necessary steps to ensure the long-term success of the company
and our ability to continue to provide world-class services to
our customers," Qwest chairman and chief executive Richard
Notebaert said in a statement.

"The sale of QwestDex is a significant part of our plan to
deliver and strengthen our balance sheet and will allow us to
focus on maximizing the profitability of our core operations."
--AFP

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ANPAf..r..
CorporateBriefs-Ramayana-profit
Ramayana profit drops 43 %: Report
JP/14/Brief1

Ramayana profit drops 43 %: Report

JAKARTA : PT Ramayana Lestari Sentosa, one of Indonesia's largest
department store operators, Wednesday reported a 43 percent fall
in first-half net profit to Rp 84.69 billion, due to foreign
exchange losses and a decline in interest income.

Ramayana posted net profit of Rp 147.41 billion a year
earlier.

Interest income decreased to Rp 34.84 billion from Rp 41.19
billion. The company also booked foreign exchange losses of Rp
16.96 billion, swinging from foreign exchange gains of Rp 69.91
billion a year earlier.

It didn't provide further comment on its performance.

Analysts said Ramayana is cash-rich and is parking excess
funds in time deposits. Consequently, declining interest rates in
Indonesia's dragged down the company's interest income.

The company's assets expanded to Rp 2.06 trillion from Rp 1.63
trillion.

Sales rose to Rp 1.25 trillion from Rp 971.61 billion in the
year-ago first half, boosting gross profit to Rp 346.07 billion
from Rp 254.63 billion, and operating income to Rp 78.27 billion
from Rp 75.07 billion.

This means that on the operating level, the company grew
during the first half compared with the same period last year. --
Dow Jones

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ANPAf..r..
CorporateBriefs-AOL-AT&T
AOL to pay AT&T US$9b
JP/14/Brief1

AOL to pay AT&T US$9b

NEW YORK : AOL Time Warner Inc. will pay AT&T Corp. as much as
US$9 billion in cash and stock, as well as an ownership stake in
a new cable company, to unwind a complicated joint venture
involving Time Warner Entertainment, according to published
reports.

The deal had been anticipated following a decision late last
month by the two companies to delay a move toward an initial
public offering of stock in Time Warner Entertainment, or TWE.
AOL Time Warner owns a little less than three-fourths of TWE, and
AT&T owns the rest.

Under the terms of the deal, which was expected to be
announced Wednesday, AOL gets full ownership of Warner Bros. film
studio and Home Box Office.

In return, AT&T gets about $2 billion in cash, $1.5 billion in
AOL Time Warner shares and a 21 percent stake in a newly created
Time Warner Cable company, The New York Times and The Wall Street
Journal reported late Tuesday on their Web sites.

The deal's value is expected to range from $8.5 billion to $9
billion, based on the current values of cable stocks and AOL
shares, the Journal reported. --AP.

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ANPAf..r..
CorporateBriefs-Siemens-jobs
Siemens to cut 1,300 more jobs
JP/14/Brief1

Siemens to cut 1,300 more jobs

MUNICH, Germany : The German electronics giant Siemens plans
to cut an additional 1,300 jobs in its ICN fixed telephone
networks division on top of the 16,500 already announced, a
spokesman said on Wednesday.

Only the day before, Siemens had said it was planning
additional job cuts in the ICN division, but it had not provided
a concrete number. --AFP.