Corporate Briefs
Travel agency PT Anta Express Tour & Travel Service plans to float its shares on the Jakarta Stock Exchange mid-December with PT Kresna Graha Sekurindo as underwriter, the company said on Thursday. -- JP
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency has raised Rp 49.5 billion (US$4.6 million) from the sale of steel container manufacturer PT Poli Contindo Nusa, formerly owned by the Salim Group, to PT Kerismas Witikco Makmur, the agency said on Thursday. -- JP
Anglo-American energy firm BP Indonesia has officially launched a series of lectures on oil and gas at Irian Jaya's universities to raise the local people's knowledge of the industry. The program will be held monthly for a year. -- JP
About 20 multinational companies operating in Banten province have launched an organization called the Banten International Business Association to help the local government in developing business in the province and attracting investors to the area, a public relations firm said on Thursday -- JP
Indonesian nickel and gold miner PT Aneka Tambang, or Antam, said Thursday its nine-month net profit rose 2.7 percent to Rp 311 billion (US$29.1 million) due to higher third-quarter sales of high-grade nickel ore. Overall sales increased to Rp 1.22 trillion from Rp 1.09 trillion a year earlier, helped by the weak rupiah at a time when average selling prices for nickel and gold were lower. -- Dow Jones
Toyota Motor Corp, Japan's largest automaker, reported a 35 percent rise in first-half operating profit on Thursday, lifted by a weaker yen, solid sales in North America and aggressive cost-cutting. Consolidated operating profit climbed to 506.58 billion yen (US$4.19 billion) for the six months through September, compared with 376.10 billion yen for the same period a year earlier. -- Reuters
Singapore Airlines' executives have agreed to take a 5-per-cent wage cut this month in what will be one of the worst-ever years for their industry, it was reported Thursday. Breaking a stalemate in talks with management, the Air Transport Executives Staff Union, representing 800 administrative officers, announced in an e-mail message to its members that it has agreed to SIA's request for a wage reduction. -- DPA
Singapore Airlines Ltd. on Thursday said it will defer delivery of 10 Airbus aircraft due for delivery from January 2003. Delivery of the first A340-500 has been put back nine months to October, the carrier said. -- AFP
Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Thursday it will recall over 12,000 cars due to brake problems at a cost of 1.5 billion yen (US$12.5 million). -- AFP
Japan's Sharp Corp. and major Taiwanese chipmaker Winbond Electronics Corp. have agreed to jointly develop memory chips for third-generation mobile phones, a news report said Thursday. The mass production technology of Winbond and the miniature processing techniques of Sharp would allow the two firms to cut development costs and get the chips to market faster, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. -- AFP
South Korea's leading automaker, Hyundai Motor Co. will jointly produce micro multi-functional vehicles with its Malaysian partner Industri Otomotif Komersial (Inokom), reports said Thursday. "We are eying to manufacture 20,000 units annually at our Kulim plant in (northern) Kedah state," the Star newspaper quoted Inokom chairman Amer Hamzah Ahmed as saying. -- AFP