BSP pays Rp 75 dividend

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed PT Bakrie Sumatra Plantations (BSP) announced yesterday it would pay a dividend of Rp 75 per share, or 30.8 percent of the net profit booked last year.

The company reported a net profit of 50.4 billion (US$3.6 million at current rate) last year, a 17 percent increase from Rp 43.1 billion in 1996.

BSP president Hari Winoto said after an extraordinary shareholders meeting yesterday that the increase in net profit resulted from increasing sales, from Rp 599 billion in 1996 to Rp 825 billion in 1997.

The largest contributor to the company's revenues was its trading arm, Lewis & Peat Group, based in Singapore, London and New York, which together contributed Rp 711 billion, or 86 percent of the company's total sales last year.

Hari said the sharp depreciation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar, by more than 80 percent since July last year, had contributed to the company's increasing revenues as all the company's sales were in U.S. dollars. (rid)