Lonsum books profit

JAKARTA (JP): PT London Sumatra (Lonsum), a publicly listed plantation company, saw its pretax profit rise by 21 percent to Rp 102.82 billion (US$53.6 million) last year.

The company, a producer of palm oil and rubber, said here yesterday that its net income rose 30 percent to Rp 80.62 billion last year.

Its total revenue last year was Rp 208.66 billion, an increase of 11 percent from that of 1995.

The company's president, Geoffrey Brown, attributed the increase in profit to the securing of high prices for palm oil and rubber, combined with the firm's ability to consistently meet or exceed production targets.

Last year, hectares of mature oil palms under its management increased by 13 percent to 19,963 hectares, producing 97,000 tons of palm oil which sold at an average price of $571 per ton.

The company produced 17,243 tons of rubber last year which sold at an average price of $1,470 per ton.

"This represents a 12 percent decline over results for 1995 reflecting the company's conversion of some areas of rubber to oil palms," Brown said.

He said the company's hectares of mature rubber trees fell 12 percent to 11,792 hectares. (bnt)