Tue, 08 Jun 2004

JSX gives Telkom, Semen Gresik more slack

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) on Monday gave until the end of this month for telecommunications firm PT Telkom and cement giant PT Semen Gresik to submit their audited 2003 financial reports, or risk being suspended.

The JSX also extended the deadline to June 11 to trading company PT Wicaksana Overseas and textile company PT Apac Citra Centertex to submit their 2003 financial reports.

"The bourse is giving another chance to these companies to submit their reports," the exchange said in a statement, but did not provide clear reasons why it had granted the dispensations to the companies.

But the exchange suspended the trading of shares in six companies as they had failed to submit their audited accounts by the June 6 final deadline.

The six firms are engineering company PT Texmaco Perkasa Engineering, construction company PT Bukaka Teknik Utama, property company PT Bhuwanatala Indah Permai, packaging firms PT Wahana Jaya Perkasa and PT Siwani Makmur, and chemical firm PT Eterindo Wahanatama.

Telkom has been unable to submit its audited financial report on time as it has faced difficulties in finalizing the previous year's financial report. It took more than a year for the company to finish its 2002 account, which had been earlier rejected by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission due to deficiencies. The 2002 report was completed in February of this year. Telkom, which is the largest counter on the JSX, is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

A Telkom spokesman earlier told this paper that the company was aiming to finalize the 2003 financial statements in the fourth week of June.

Meanwhile, Semen Gresik, Indonesia's largest cement maker, had also been facing difficulties in finalizing its 2002 financial report, which in turn affected the completion of the 2003 report, due to problems with its rebellious West Sumatra-based subsidiary PT Semen Padang.

Listed companies are supposed to submit their 2003 audited financial reports to the JSX by March 31. But some 35 firms failed to meet the initial deadline, forcing the exchange to extend the deadline a couple of times. The JSX previously warned the companies that they could risk being suspended or even delisted from the exchange if they could not meet the final June 6 deadline.

A JSX official previously admitted that the exchange was in a difficult position as regards the imposition of tougher sanctions against Telkom and Semen Gresik due to their large size.

Meanwhile, bellweather Telkom shares fell Rp 50, or 0.7 percent, to Rp 6,800 after its American Depositary Receipts fell US$0.1 to $14.60 in New York on Friday.

Shares in Semen Gresik declined by Rp 100 to Rp 9,000 amid overall weak market sentiment.