JSX profit plunge by 94% on lower revenue

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) revealed on Monday that its net profit for the first semester of this year had dropped by 94 percent due to lower revenue from stock transactions and clearance fees and an increase in operational costs.

In a report, JSX said that its first half profit declined to a mere Rp 640 million (around US$76,190) from Rp 10.8 billion in the same period last year. The company's revenue fell to Rp 39.2 billion from Rp 53.4 billion.

The decline in revenue was attributed mostly to the slide in the company's income from stock transaction fees, which in the first six months dipped to Rp 12.5 billion, compared to Rp 21.6 billion in the corresponding period last year.

The company's income from clearance fee also declined to Rp 7.58 billion from Rp 13.1 billion.

JSX's woes slightly eased as its income from registration fees increased to Rp 12.8 billion from Rp 12.5 billion. The company's income from information services also surged to Rp 6.15 billion from Rp 6.04 billion.

The report also showed that the company's lower profit was also caused by the surge in operational cost burden to Rp 54 billion from Rp 49.2 billion a year ago due to a higher overhead costs such as for employees' salaries and benefits.

Due to the burden, the company recorded Rp 14.8 billion in operating loss compared to a profit of Rp 4.25 billion a year ago.

JSX management has said earlier that the value of daily transactions at the bourse from January to June averaged Rp 300 billion, a 40 percent drop from the average value in the same period last year.

The first-half transaction value amounts to just 50 percent of the company's 2003 target of around Rp 600 billion per day.

War in the province of Aceh, terrorism fears and the slow pace of economic recovery in the micro sector have discouraged investors from trading on the stock market during the first six months of this year.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the Jakarta Composite Index ended 0.9 percent or 4.662 points higher at 534.337, the highest closing level since July 14.