Hexindo Adiperkasa revises sales target upwards
Hexindo Adiperkasa revises sales target upwards
JAKARTA (JP): PT Hexindo Adiperkasa, a publicly listed heavy
equipment company, has revised upwards its sales projection for
this year after an unexpected rise in demand.
Company vice president Husny Effendy said yesterday that
sales, initially projected to fall substantially, would increase
20 percent this year to Rp 300 billion (US$125 million).
"We first projected that our sales would drop this year
because of the general election (in May). But, sales in the first
quarter of the year showed a big increase," he said.
He said the company had sold 538 units of heavy equipment,
mostly Hitachi hydraulic excavators, in the first five months of
this year. This equaled 40 percent of the company's heavy
equipment sales of 1,119 units last year.
The 1,119 sales contributed Rp 192.1 billion to the company's
total sales of Rp 258.7 billion last year.
"We believe that sales this year will rise because the common
trend in the heavy equipment sector is that 60 percent of sales
are made in the second half of the year," he said after the
company's general meeting of shareholders.
Husny said a higher demand for heavy equipment this year would
mostly come from the pulp and shrimp industries.
"The demand (for heavy equipment) in mining and construction
sectors will remain stable," he said.
Hexindo recently sold 200 pieces of heavy equipment worth
US$18 million to the pulp company PT Karara Abadi in Riau.
Hexindo is 61.67 percent owned by PT Hexindo Adiperwira, 10.15
percent by Japan's Hitachi Construction Machinery Singapore,
10.15 percent by Itochu Corporation and 16.03 percent by the
public.
The company distributes heavy equipment made by Hitachi, the
United States' John Deere, Germany's Krupp, France's Neyrtec,
South Korea's Daewoo and other foreign companies.
Hexindo, Hitachi, Itochu, PT Minda Iron Steel and PT
Anggaputra Dhananjaya have set up a joint venture -- PT Hitachi
Construction Machinery Indonesia -- to operate a heavy equipment
assembly plant in the Pulo Gadung industrial estate in East
Jakarta.
Husny said the company's net sales had increased 28.9 percent
to Rp 258.74 billion in 1996, but its net profit had only
increased 0.05 percent to Rp 13.23 billion.
"The competition in the year 1996 was so tough that we made
considerable investment. This in turn reduced our net profit," he
said.
He said that this year, net profit was projected to increase 5
percent to around Rp 14 billion.
He said the company had recruited 100 staff to improve its
competitiveness.
The company had higher interest costs last year after
borrowing to cover its accounts receivable.
"We also had to reduce our profit to pay tax for our 1995
initial public offering," he said.
The company will distribute Rp 3.36 billion of its profit, or
Rp 80 a share, in dividends. (jsk)