Dharmala Insurance to issue bonus shares

Dharmala Insurance to issue bonus shares

JAKARTA (JP): The shareholders of publicly-listed insurance
company PT Dharmala Insurance have approved a plan to issue of
four bonus shares for five old shares, company president Suhanda
Wiraatmadja said yesterday.

Speaking after the company's extraordinary shareholders
meeting, Suhanda said that the bonus shares will be distributed
on Feb. 22, 1996. They will be derived from the capitalization of
the capital gains obtained through the company's initial public
offering in 1989, which amounted to Rp 7.86 billion (US$3.4
million), he said.

Suhanda said the bonus share issue will increase the company's
paid-up capital from Rp 9.82 billion to Rp 17.68 billion.

He acknowledged that the current paid-up capital is too small
to allow the company to grow because its underwriting capacity is
severely limited.

Suhanda said the issue is expected to boost the liquidity of
the company's shares on the stock market, which are now traded at
Rp 2,000 each, because the share price will drop to Rp 1,111
after the bonus share issue.

Dharmala Insurance, which is 67-percent owned by PT Dharmala
Sakti Sejahtera, a unit of the Dharmala Group, had total assets
of Rp 34.89 billion as of December 1994. Its net profit dropped
from Rp 267 million in 1993 to Rp 148 million last year.

Suhanda said the company's net profit is projected to reach Rp
2 billion this year, due mainly to a sharp increase in its
underwriting income, which is expected to reach Rp 5.4 billion
this year. Earnings per share are also set to rise from Rp 15 to
Rp 114, he said.

He added that yesterday's meeting also appointed Tanadi Iwan
Saputra Tanjung as the company's director of marketing, a new
post on the board of directors. (08)