Indosat has new chief, profit down
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Publicly listed telecommunications company PT Indosat, which had been without a president director for almost 10 months, got a new chief executive officer on Wednesday, and also reported a 73.1 percent decline in its profit for 2004.
During their annual meeting, shareholders of the company appointed Hasnul Suhaimi, the firm's former director of consumer marketing, the new president director to replace Widya Purnama, who was appointed by the government to lead state oil and gas company PT Pertamina on Aug. 11, 2004.
The company's caretaker leader, Ng Eng Ho, was named deputy president director, while Johny Swandi Sjam was appointed to replace Hasnul as director of consumer marketing. S. Wimbo S. Hardjito will replace Sutrisman as director of corporate services.
Wahyu Wijayadi was reappointed as director of corporate marketing, Wityasmoro Sih Handayanto as director of planning and project development, Raymond Tan Kim Meng as director of network operations and quality management, Joseph Chan Lam Seng as director of information technology and Wong Heang Tuck as director of finance.
The shareholders retained the company's commissioners, except Umar Rusdi and Mohammad Ikhsan, who were replaced by Setyanty P. Santosa and Soeprapto.
Hasnul said after the meeting that Indosat's net profit plunged to Rp 1.63 trillion (US$171.58 million) last year from Rp 6.08 trillion in 2003.
The company's annual report said the net profit in 2003 was so much higher than the Rp 340.7 billion in 2002 and Rp 1.45 trillion in 2001 because of revenue from restructuring transactions involving entities under cross-ownership transactions with PT Telkom.
Hasnul said the shareholders agreed that 50 percent of the company's net profit should be distributed to shareholders as a dividend of Rp 154.23 per share. The date and arrangements for the dividend payment will be announced on Friday.
He said Indosat also hoped to increase the number of its cellular subscribers significantly with the introduction of new incentives, such as lower rates for new subscribers registered by family members or friends.
"During the April to May period alone, we were able to net 1.6 million new subscribers, as compared to 430,000 during the January to March period."
He said Indosat, with 12 million subscribers as of May, currently controlled a 33 percent share of the cellular market in the country.
He added that the company's market share reached 40 percent in Java and 20 percent to 25 percent on other islands.