GRI's net profit up 36.3%

JAKARTA (JP): Clothing company PT Great River International (GRI) reported a 36.3 percent net profit rise to Rp 13.9 billion (US$5.14 million) in the first six months this year over the same period in 1996.

GRI's director, Soesanto Sahardjo, said yesterday the company's revenue rose 20 percent to Rp 129.7 billion in the same period.

He said increasing exports and the company's expansion of marketing networks in the country and abroad had increased sales.

Soesanto said that due to the depreciation of the rupiah, the company expected to increase its targeted revenue this year. It had already increased its exports and had reached 50 percent of its dollar income target.

Natural hedging and additional swap arrangements had protected the company from the rupiah's depreciation, while offshore funding was mainly used for export growth expansion and developing overseas subsidiaries, he said.

Also, GRI's products, mostly international brands, were sold based on international pricing, while imported raw material used by the company has decreased to 20 percent, he said. (jsk)