Centris to expand taxi fleet

JAKARTA (JP): PT Centris Multipersada Pratama, a publicly listed taxi operator, will get 700 more cabs this year as part of its expansion plan, the company said yesterday.

Centris' president Andra Agussalam said some of the cabs would be new and some would be reconditioned existing taxis.

The cabs would be allocated to its subsidiaries which operate taxi fleets several cities in Java and Sumatra, Andra said after the firm's shareholders meeting.

He did not say how much had been invested in the plan but said a new taxi cost between Rp 37 million (US$15.17 million) and Rp 40 million.

"Some of the funds would come from our own equity and some from foreign syndicated loans from Japan and Korea," he said.

The company operates several taxi fleets including Ratax, Centris, Kartika and Mercury taxies.

Andra said his company also planned to buy other companies, but declined to reveal the names of these companies or how much it would cost.

"With the expansion we expect a net profit of Rp 20 billion this year, up from Rp 10.09 billion last year," he said.

The company also expected its earnings per share to rise to Rp 370 from Rp 208 last year.

Last year the company's net profit rose by 27.31 percent to Rp 10.09 billion from Rp 7.92 billion in 1995.

Its revenue grew by 25 percent last year to Rp 40.49 billion from Rp 32.39 billion in 1995, and its earnings per share rose from Rp 140 to Rp 208.

The company's assets rose to Rp 203.30 billion last year from Rp 118.53 billion in 1995.

Andra attributed the rise to the firm's fleet expansion last year. The company bought 700 taxis last year with an investment of over Rp 25 billion.

He said the company would distribute, in July, dividends of Rp 65 per share, or 34.78 percent of its net profit, compared to Rp 30 per share in 1995.

Centris now operates 3,300 taxis in cities including the Greater Jakarta areas, Yogyakarta (Central Java) Surabaya (East Java), Bandung (West Java) and Padang (West Sumatra). (das)