Indofood 2004 net profit falls 37 percent

Indofood 2004 net profit falls 37 percent

PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, the world's biggest instant-noodle
maker, said foreign exchange losses cut profit by 37 percent in
2004 from a year earlier.

The company's audited net income fell to Rp 378.1 billion
(US$40.4 million), or Rp 44 a share, from Rp 603.5 billion, or Rp
71 share, a year earlier, the Jakarta-based company said in a
statement. Sales were Rp 17.92 trillion, from Rp 17.87 trillion
in 2003.

Indofood had a foreign-exchange loss of Rp 296.9 billionlast
year from a loss of Rp 102 billion in 2003, it said. The rupiah's
9.2 percent decline against the U.S. dollar last year increased
the cost of Indofood's $317 million of dollar- denominated debt.
The company's sales are in rupiah, while about 60 percent of its
costs are linked to the dollar.

Indofood is counting on increasing consumer demand to bolster
sales of its more than 200 varieties of noodles as competition
more noodle makers enter the market. Wings Group, an Indonesian
company which makes detergents, last year began selling instant
noodles.

Indofood last November said noodle sales volume may climb 4
percent this year, accelerating from 1 percent growth in 2004.
The Indonesian government expects the economy to expand by 5.5
percent this year, the fastest pace in nine year, from 5.1
percent last year.

Indofood bought back 30 percent of the $280 million of bonds
sold by its Mauritius unit in 2002, the company said on March 1.
It also bought back $30 million of guaranteed notes sold by the
same unit in 2002. ( Bloomberg)