IBM expects lower sales growth this year
IBM expects lower sales growth this year
JAKARTA (JP): PT Usaha Sistim Informasi Jaya, distributor of
IBM's products and services in the country, expects a lower sales
growth this year due to the currency crisis.
The company's president Hari Sulistyono said yesterday
sluggish cash flows in the last three months had forced the
company to revise down the growth target of this year's sales
revenue to 38 percent from 25 percent this year.
"Our cash flow has been slowing down in the last two to three
months, because buyers who had agreed to purchase had to delay
the procurements," Hari said.
He did not disclose the targeted amount of revenue.
He said the company's revenue during this year's first half
was very promising, but speculative attacks on the rupiah over
the last three months had resulted in lethargic sales.
This was especially noticeable in the company's hardware
sales, where buyers had to delay the procurement of its products
because of the credit crunch imposed by the government, he said.
"Many companies which were set to upgrade their information
technology system had to postpone the actual buying because there
was just no money," he said.
The central bank has raised the interest rates of its short-
term SBI papers to as high as 30 percent to stabilize the falling
rupiah. This has caused deposit and lending rates to skyrocket,
making bank loans more expensive.
The rates have been gradually lowered since, but analysts said
they were still too high.
The rupiah has dropped by over 25 percent against the U.S.
dollar since early July.
The government has also imposed a massive rescheduling program
on its own projects or state-related projects to cope with the
currency crisis.
Hari said the contribution of IBM's hardware sales to the
total revenue had dropped significantly over the years, due to
the continuing decline in the products' prices.
Revenue from hardware sales contributed to about 45 percent of
the total revenue, while the remaining 55 percent was made up by
system services including consultancy, maintenance services and
software offered by the company, he said.
"We produce more sophisticated computers in a larger volume
now compared to 10 years ago, but the prices have also dropped
over those years," he said.
Hari said his company's largest market now was mass
customization such as the banking industry's Automatic Teller
Machine system and the "one of a kind customer" involving
companies with a specialized system such as the state-owned
Indonesian National Aircraft Manufacturer, he said.
He said the company catered to 14 sectors in the country,
including banking, manufacturing, government, telecommunications
and education. (das)