Government denies further sale of Telkom shares

JAKARTA (JP): The government denied yesterday it would further divest its shares in PT Telkomunikasi Indonesia (PT Telkom).

Director General of Post and Telecommunications Djakaria Purawidjaja said here yesterday the government had no plans to sell its Telkom shares through stock markets or private placement.

Rumors that Singapore Telecom had tied up with Telkom spread at local stock exchanges Thursday.

There were also rumors that Telkom would launch a second public offering by the third quarter this year, to raise up to US$1 billion.

"There's no plan for a private placement, or one proposed by Singapore Telecom," he said.

"Singapore Telecom is a shareholder of a private firm cooperating with Telkom to develop telecommunications networks in the eastern part of the country. That's all."

Djakaria refused to comment on the secondary offering plan.

Telkom made its domestic and overseas stock market debut in November, 1995, when the government floated 9.33 billion shares, about 20 percent of the company, simultaneously on the New York, London, Jakarta and Surabaya stock markets.

The government sold another 388 million shares, about 4.15 percent, in December last year on the Jakarta and New York stock markets.

The company raised Rp 2.3 trillion from the domestic offering and $519.1 million from the overseas offering from the 1995 initial public offering (IPO).

Profit

Telkom reported yesterday a net profit of Rp 398.95 billion ($164.88 million) in the first quarter this year, 29.87 percent more than in the 1996 first quarter.

It said its earnings per share were Rp 42.7 ($0.35 per American Depository Receipt/ADR) in the first quarter in 1997 compared to Rp 32.91 last year.

Telkom said its operating profit rose to Rp 602.95 billion in the 1997 first quarter, up 43.76 percent from last year.

In the same period last year, Telkom's net profit and operating profit grew 57.12 percent and 31.97 percent, respectively.

"The net income and operating income increases were largely due to the company's continued expansion of the number of lines in service (LIS) and the corresponding increased usage of the fixed line network," Telkom said.

The company said that as of March 31, 1996, the company had 4.32 million telephone lines in service, 24.2 percent more than the 3.47 million at the end of the 1996 first quarter. About 142,000 thousand of the 4.32 million lines are public phones.

LIS for every 100 people rose to 2.2 by March 1997, from 1.8 in the 1996 first quarter, the company said.

"There are 2.37 million LIS in Telkom regions (Greater Jakarta and East Java) and 1.94 million in joint-operation (KSO) regions (Sumatra, West Java, Central Java, Kalimantan and eastern Indonesia), an increase of 30 percent and 17.9 percent respectively compared to the 1996 first quarter."

"The number of subscribers increased 24.3 percent to 4.18 million from 3.36 million during the same period. The mix of subscribers is approximately 23.8 percent business, 75.7 percent residential (including government offices) and 0.4 percent "social" subscribers (churches, mosques, and charities) in Telkom's regions."

In KSO regions the mix is 19 percent business, 80.5 percent residential and 0.54 percent social.

The company said its assets increased 14.2 percent to Rp 18.14 trillion as of March, while its long-term debt (including current maturities) grew 12.7 percent to Rp 4.97 trillion and stockholders' equity grew 20.1 percent to Rp 9.24 billion.

The company reported aggregate capital expenditure in the 1997 first quarter of Rp 743 billion. Rp 110.3 billion of this was financed with IPO proceeds. About Rp 716.4 billion expanded Telkom's fixed line network.

Telkom increased its exchange capacity by 85,022 lines to 6.43 million lines and added 106,913 installed lines for 5.92 million lines in the 1997 first quarter.

Telkom's shares closed up Rp 50 at Rp 4,100 on the Jakarta Stock Exchange yesterday. (icn)