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