Indofood off to hefty profit

Indofood off to hefty profit

JAKARTA: PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, the world's largest instant noodle maker, said Monday net profit more than doubled to Rp 571.1 billion in the first half, mostly due to foreign exchange gains.

The local currency rose against the dollar to an average of Rp 9,499 in the first half, from Rp 10,643 in the year-earlier period, Indofood's president director Eva Riyanti Hutapea said in a statement.

This resulted in net foreign exchange gains of Rp 317.4 billion, compared with losses of Rp 366.6 billion in the first half of 2001.

The company reported net profit of Rp 217.2 billion in the first half of last year.

The sharp increase also was due to new accounting principles for derivative instruments and hedging activities, which were implemented in January 2001, Indofood said.

Without the implementation of the accounting standard, the increase in net profit would have been 62 percent, it said. -- Dow Jones