Indofood's nine-month profits increase 14%

Food processor PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk said on Tuesday that its net income rose 14 percent to Rp 573.5 billion (US$52 million) in the first nine months of the year, compared to the same period of 2000.

Consolidated sales for the nine-month period reached Rp 10.7 trillion, or a 14 percent increase over the same period of last year, company president and chief executive officer Eva Riyanti Hutapea said in a statement on Tuesday.

Nearly all operating divisions recorded increased sales with noodles, flour, and the edible oils and fats divisions contributing a total of 80 percent of sales, she said.

The growth in net income was mainly due to lower foreign exchange losses as a result of the reduction in the company's outstanding foreign exchange debts to US$348 million as of Sept. 30, 2001 from $452 million as of Sept. 30, 2000.

On a positive note, Hutapea said that as of Sept. 30, Indofood had hedging contracts amounting to $310 million.

Of the US$348 million in debts outstanding at the end of the third quarter, $215 million would not mature until mid-2002, while the balance of $133 would mature between 2003 and 2005, she said. --JP