Matahari's Q4 profit up 12% on sales

Matahari's Q4 profit up 12% on sales

Bloomberg, Jakarta

PT Matahari Putra Prima, Indonesia's biggest retailer by sales,
posted a 12 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit as the
fastest economic growth in eight years boosted sales.

The Tangerang-based company's net income increased to Rp 71.1
billion in the three months ended Dec. 31, from Rp 63.4 billion
in the same period a year earlier. Sales rose 9.7 percent to Rp
1.92 trillion in the quarter. Fourth-quarter results, which
Matahari did not release, were derived by deducting nine-month
results from full-year figures published in Bisnis Indonesia
newspaper on Wednesday.

Indonesia's faster economic growth and trouble-free elections
last year prompted more Indonesian to go to malls and
supermarkets run by Matahari and smaller rival PT Ramayana
Lestari Sentosa. The country's economy grew 5.1 percent in 2004,
the fastest since 1996, driven by private consumption.

Looking forward, planned new regulations that would forbid
hypermarkets from operating outside provincial capitals "may hurt
growth this year," said Arhya Satyagraha, an analyst at Trimegah
Securities in Jakarta.

Matahari said in December it planned to open 10 hypermarkets
-- a combination of a supermarket and department store -- and 11
department stores in 2005 to boost sales by 30 percent.

Satyagraha said he will maintain a "hold" recommendation on
the stock because of concern the new rule may hurt the company's
expansion plans.

For the full year, net income rose to Rp 125.3 billion, or Rp
50 a share, from Rp 115.5 billion, or Rp 45 a share, in 2003,
according to the statement. Sales rose 11 percent to Rp 5.62
trillion.