JAKARTA: PT Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper said Monday its unaudited

JAKARTA: PT Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper said Monday its unaudited
consolidated net loss widened to US$190.4 million during the
first half of this year from $46.8 million the previous year.

The Indonesian unit of Singapore-incorporated Asia Pulp &
Paper Co. said its net loss widened on the higher cost of sales,
which during the period rose to $591.76 million from $570.85
million. The higher cost of sales pushed the company's operating
profit lower to $77.4 million from $123.45 million a year ago.

The company booked losses on interest expenses, which during
the period totaled $128.65 million, compared with $146.45
million.

It also attributed the net losses to foreign exchange losses,
which were $66.62 million compared with $48.14 million in foreign
exchange gains during the same period last year. -- Dow Jones

Telstra interested in Indosat

MELBOURNE: Telstra Corp. is reportedly one of six parties to
have expressed an interest in acquiring a 41 percent stake in
Indonesia's Indonesian Satellite Corp., which provides long
distance services in the country, the Australian Financial Review
reports Monday.

The newspaper said the stake is worth about A$800 million.

The Indonesian government plans to sell a stake in Indosat
through a strategic sale. -- Dow Jones

Ayala unit eyes 11% earnings growth

MANILA: Philippine conglomerate Ayala Corp.'s electronics
manufacturing service unit is projecting an 11 percent increase
in earnings this year on higher export sales.

This projection outperforms a forecast 5 percent growth for
the industry.

Arthur Tan, chief executive of Integrated Microelectronics
Inc., or IMI, told reporters both revenue and net profit will be
driven by higher exports, particularly to Japanese companies.

Tan also said the company plans to expand to China to reduce
production cost, and may also list on the Philippine Stock
Exchange late next year or early 2004.

Electronics, the Philippines' main export, comprises over half
the country's product shipments. --Dow Jones

Far Eastern Textile's profit up

TAIPEI: Taiwan's Far Eastern Textile Ltd., one of Asia's
largest polyester makers, posted a net profit of NT$1.46 billion
in the first half of the year, up sharply from NT$362.2 million
in the same period a year ago, a company official said Monday.

The sharp rise in profit was due mainly to write-backs in
securities investment, amid the gains in the Taiwan stock market
during this period, the official added.

Earnings per share totaled NT$0.44 in the January-June period,
four times of NT$0.11 in the same period last year, the official
said.

In the first six months of the year, the company's revenue
totaled NT$15.51 billion, down 4.1% from NT$16.17 billion a year
ago. -- Dow Jones

Islamic fund sets up Brunei office

HONG KONG: Emerging Markets Partnership (Bahrain) E.C.,
manager of the US$1.5 billion Islamic Development Bank
Infrastructure Fund, said Monday it has set up an Asian regional
office in Brunei.

The Brunei office, the Emerging Markets Partnership (Brunei)
Ltd., will serve as a base to seek investment opportunities in
Muslim countries in Asia.

The IDB Infrastructure Fund, which closed its fund-raising
period in December, is the first private equity fund to focus on
infrastructure development in Muslim countries. The fund's
investment scope includes the power, telecommunications,
transportation, energy, natural resources, petrochemicals, and
infrastructure-related sectors.

The fund will commit a minimum of US$10 million per
investment, which it plans to hold for around five years.

Emerging Markets Partnership (Bahrain), which specializes in
private infrastructure funds, has around $6 billion under
management globally. -- Dow Jones

Siemens eyes cutting 4,000 more jobs

MUNICH, Germany : The German electronics giant Siemens is hoping
to cut an additional 4,000 jobs in its ICN fixed-telephone
networks division, not just 1,300 as announced last week, a
spokeswoman said on Monday.

Siemens has already announced it was cutting a total 16,500
jobs in the ICN division from a total workforce of around 54,000.

But news of additional job cuts has seeped out in recent days,
with Siemens first simply saying it was considering axing more
jobs, without naming a figure, and then giving a figure of 1,300
last week.

In fact, 4,000 was the figure "currently being used in
discussions" with employee representatives, the spokeswoman said
on Monday.

Like other companies in the telecoms and high-tech sectors,
Siemens has been hit hard by the bursting of the telecoms bubble
and a collapse in investment by telecom operators and has decided
to cut around 30,000 jobs across all its divisions around the
world.

But the loss-making ICN division is taking the brunt of the
cuts. At ICN's main factory in Munich, some 2,300 jobs are to be
axed from a total workforce of 7,000.

However, labor unions and employee representatives have said
they will not take the job cuts lying down. --AFP

Siam Mitsui brings new chemical plant

BANGKOK : Siam Mitsui PTA Co., a Thai-Japanese joint venture,
has started commercial operations at a new plant producing
400,000 tons a year of purified terephthalic acid, resulting in a
doubling of its production capacity for this chemical.

The new facility is located beside another PTA plant operated
by the joint venture. That plant has been in operation since
1999, and also produces 400,000 tons/year of PTA, which is used
in the production of polyester fibers and plastic bottles.

Siam Mitsui PTA is a joint venture between Japan's Mitsui
Chemicals Inc. and Cementhai Chemicals Ltd., a unit of Thailand's
largest industrial conglomerate Siam Cement PLC.

The plant was completed in July and it came on stream last
week, Siam Mitsui said in a statement Monday. The new unit was
built to help meet rising demand for PTA in Asia, it added.

The statement said Mitsui already has production bases for PTA
in Japan, Thailand, Korea and Indonesia, and intends to make PTA
one of its core businesses.

The construction of the new plant started in January 2001 and
required an investment of US$220 million, according to Mitsui at
that time. --Dow Jones.