Hotel Sahid reports profit decrease

JAKARTA (JP): PT Hotel Sahid Jaya International, the owner of Sahid hotels in various provinces, reported yesterday a 29.17 percent decrease of its profit in 1993 due to increasing competition.

The company's president, Sukamdani Sahid Gitosardjono, said in an annual and extraordinary meeting of the company's shareholders meeting here yesterday that the company's profit declined to Rp 6.82 billion (US$3.16 million) last year from Rp 9.63 billion in 1992.

He said competition in the hotel industry is increasing as many new hotels have been established in Jakarta, thereby creating an oversupply of hotel rooms.

"Furthermore, new hotels generally offer discounts of over 50 percent off their official rates in the first few months of their operations," he said.

He said the increasing competition has encouraged Hotel Sahid to renovate its 20-year-old Sahid Jaya Hotel & Tower in Jakarta, the backbone of the company's business.

The renovation has caused the company to operate only 560 of the hotel's 619 rooms in the first months of last year, he said, adding that the hotel's occupancy rate was only 55.46 percent in the first semester last year.

Sahid Jaya Hotel & Tower was officially reintroduced last Thursday after the completion of the renovation work which cost Rp 40 billion.

Yesterday meetings agreed that Hotel Sahid will distribute cash dividends of Rp 60 per share to its shareholders on August 18.

Hotel Sahid was listed on the Jakarta and Surabaya Stock Exchanges four years ago. Its shares were quoted at Rp 1,950 on Monday. (icn)