Indofood's profit soars

Indofood's profit soars

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed food giant PT Indofood Sukses
Makmur reported on Tuesday a net profit of Rp 153.4 billion
(US$19.7 million) for the first quarter of this year, a 442
percent increase over the same period of 1998.

"This quarter's results even exceeded the whole year of 1998's
net profit of Rp 150.2 billion," the company said in a statement.

The company's net sales grew 57.7 percent to Rp 2.8 trillion
in the first quarter against Rp 1.8 trillion in the same period
last year.

The largest contribution of sales came from noodles, 40
percent, followed by edible oils and fats, 25 percent, and milled
flour, 23 percent.

Indofood, the world's largest producer of noodles, sold 2.1
billion packets of noodle in the first quarter, a 10 percent drop
from the same period last year.

The company said its total assets reached Rp 10.5 trillion
($1.4 billion) by the end of March, with outstanding foreign
currency loans worth US$773 million. (rid)