Jaya expects 9.24% profit growth

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed Jaya Real Property projects a 9.24 percent increase in net profit to Rp 130 billion (US$54.16 million) this year from Rp 119 billion in 1996, the company's president Tanto Kurniawan said Wednesday.

Tanto said the net earning per share was expected to increase to Rp 277 from last year's Rp 253.

He said the property business would continue to be sluggish this year. "But we can still beat the market slump if we have a well-designed strategy," he said following the company's annual shareholders meeting.

Tanto expects the property business, especially housing, to recover next year.

He said the market for small and medium-sized houses with prices ranging from Rp 22 million Rp 150 million was still promising.

Jaya Property plans to build 2,700 houses, consisting of 60 percent small houses and 30 percent medium-sized houses this year. Most would be located in Bintaro, South Jakarta.

Tanto said he was optimistic his company's plans would prove viable, especially with the government's plan to construct the Jakarta-Bintaro-Serpong toll road and a three-tiered transportation system linking Bintaro and Jakarta.

He said his company was negotiating the setting up of a joint venture with a European company to build a 200-hectare central business district and a 15 ha housing complex in Bintaro. He refused to identify the company.

Last year, the company's net profit rose 8.6 percent to Rp 119 billion (US$50.64 million).

He said the property developer's shareholders had approved the management's plan to pay Rp 39.95 billion in dividends, or Rp 85 per share.

The dividend would be around 33.57 percent of the net profit in 1996, he said.

Tanto said that the company's sales rose by 20 percent to about Rp 320 billion last year, while its total assets increased by 34.3 percent to Rp 1.1 trillion. (bnt)