JAKARTA: PT Bimantara Citra posted a nine-month net profit of

JAKARTA: PT Bimantara Citra posted a nine-month net profit of Rp 362 billion, up 14 percent from Rp 317.5 billion a year earlier, Bimantara Finance Director Diono Nurjadin told reporters Friday.

He said the increase in net profit was mostly due to higher revenue which rose 14 percent to Rp 1.37 trillion from Rp 1.2 trillion a year earlier.

Nurjadin said television unit, PT Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia contributed up to 40 percent of the total revenue. He didn't elaborate.

Bimantara was the former investment vehicle for Bambang Trihatmodjo, the eldest son of former President Suharto, who many analysts believe still has a say in the running of the company. It has some small telecommunication holdings, but is mainly known for its media businesses.

Nurjadin said the company in the future plans to focus on its broadcast and telecommunication businesses.

He said to support the plan, the company will sell a 55 percent stake in transportation company PT Cardig Air and a 25.48 percent stake in logistics unit PT JAS.

The company expects to raise between US$45 million and $60 million from the sale of non-core businesses. -- Dow Jones

Astra expects CPO output to grow

DOW JONES: PT Astra Agro Lestari expects its crude palm oil production to grow by up to 10 percent next year, the company's Vice President Director Benny Tjoeng said in a statement Friday.

As of Oct. 31, the company produced 446,260 metric tons of crude palm oil, or 81 percent of the company's target for this year at 550,000 tons, Benny said. The company produced 519,760 tons of crude palm oil last year.

Benny said Astra Agro, which is 64 percent owned by Indonesia's largest car maker PT Astra International, exported 30,584 tons of palm oil in the first 10 months of this year, up from 8,248 tons in the same period a year earlier.

He said he expects the price of the commodity to strengthen next year due to a prolonged dry spell in Indonesia and Malaysia and increased demand for crude palm oil from China.

He said crude palm oil was trading at an average of $408 a ton in October, sharply higher than $277 per ton in October last year. -- Dow Jones

Semen Gresik net profit down 20%

JAKARTA: Semen Gresik, Indonesia's largest cement producer, made a net profit of Rp 294.0 billion in the first nine months, down 20 percent from the same period of 2001.

The falling profit was due mainly to rising sales and administrative costs, according to the state-owned company's statement to the stock exchange.

Semen Gresik's cement sales rose 11 percent to Rp 3.84 trillion due to strong consumer demand. Indonesia's consumers have been spending on house renovations this year, helping push up demand for cement at a time when government infrastructure spending and private investment remain weak.

But higher costs meant the company's operating profit fell 17 percent on year to Rp 702.6 billion. The government has cut subsidies on utilities this year to bring its debt under control, which has pushed up fuel costs, hurting companies like Semen Gresik.

Mexico's Cemex SA owns a 26 percent stake in Semen Gresik and had an agreement to raise this to majority control last year. But that deal never happened due to opposition from some of Semen Gresik's workers over giving a foreign company a majority stake in the company. --Dow Jones

Toyota to offer banking services

TOKYO: Japan's biggest car maker Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday it has applied for a U.S. banking license and hopes to offer services such as loans and credit cards as early as April.

"We have submitted a banking license application to the U.S. authorities, and we hope that we can obtain it in six to nine months," Toyota spokesman Hitoshi Nagashima said.

"We hope that we can begin financial services as early as April 2003," Nagashima said.

Toyota plans to offer products including loans on homes and lending to car dealers to finance showroom expansion, company officials said.

If successful, Toyota would be the first Japanese car maker to offer banking services in the United States .

Toyota has already obtained similar banking licenses in Japan, Germany, France, Sweden and Brazil, the company said. --AFP Three firms ink cable deal

SINGAPORE:Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. said Friday it has signed a deal with Communication Authority of Thailand and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia to build a cable network spanning the three countries.

The plan to build the estimated 1,000-kilometer-long submarine cable network was announced in May, and the cable is expected to be ready by the end of next year, SingTel said in a statement.

There was no mention in the statement of neighboring Malaysia, which is the missing link in terms of regional cable coverage for SingTel, Southeast Asia's biggest telecommunications operator.

SingTel said in May it was still talking with Malaysian operators to extend the network there.

SingTel has said it and its two partners don't expect to spend more than US$10 million each on the project.--Dow Jones

French firm eyes S'pore, HK, Taiwan

SINGAPORE: A French pharmaceutical company which set up its Asian hub in Singapore is studying plans to establish a clinical research unit as well, a Sanofi-Synthelabo executive said in a published interview on Friday.

Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan are being considered as possible locations for the unit, regional director for Southeast Asia Bruno Grele told The Business Times newspaper.

A decision on the location will be made next month, he said.

"We're looking for a place that has high quality medical technology, a good regulatory environment, as well as good infrastructure," Grele was quoted as saying.

As the hub for regional activities, Singapore provides logistics, IT, and manpower training support to Sanofi- Synthelabo's 12 subsidiaries in Asia.

The company also has three manufacturing plants in China, Vietnam and South Korea. It is building a fourth in Indonesia. --DPA