Mulia firm increase dividends

JAKARTA (JP): The publicly listed PT Mulialand and PT Mulia Industrindo, both subsidiaries of the Mulia Group, will distribute Rp 49.1 billion and Rp 33.1 billion in dividends respectively, the companies have announced.

Tjahja Sathiadi, the director of property company PT Mulialand, said yesterday his company would distribute a dividend of Rp 100 per share to its shareholders, up 30 percent from last year's level.

He said Mulialand, which operates office buildings and retail spaces, booked Rp 142.76 billion in net profit last year, up 54 percent from 1995.

"Last year our operating profit rose by 20 percent to Rp 555.37," Tjahja said after the companies' joint annual shareholders meeting.

The company's market capitalization increased by 180 percent to Rp 1.4 trillion last year from Rp 500 billion in 1995 due to the increase in the volume of the shares and their price, he said.

Tjahja said Mulialand expected to book Rp 165 billion in net profit this year on revenues of Rp 580 billion.

The profit rise would come from the operation of its new retail and office spaces including the newly acquired Wisma GKBI in the city's commercial district and the Taman Anggrek mall, he said.

Meanwhile Tony Surjanto, the director of glass and ceramic tile maker Mulia Industrindo, said his company's total dividend payout rose by 67 percent this year to Rp 33.1 billion.

Tony said the rise was caused by the company's increase in net profit last year.

"Our sales rose by 58 percent last year to Rp 518.9 billion from Rp 327.5 billion in 1995," he said.

He attributed the sales rise to the operation last year of new ceramic tiles manufacturing plants, which raised the company's production volume.

He said the company's net profit rose by 65 percent to Rp 113.1 billion last year from Rp 68.5 billion in 1995.

The company started operating the second manufacturing wall tiles plant with a capacity of 8.75 million square meters of tiles last year.

It also began operating its third manufacturing plant for floor tiles. This can produce 9.8 million square meters a year, he said.

This year, Mulia Industrindo expected to book Rp 162 billion in profit, he said.

The expected increase in profit would come from the rise in production from new manufacturing plants which would start production this year, he said.

The new plants include a glass sheet plant, with a production capacity of 210,000 tons a year, a floor-tile factory, with a production capacity of 10.5 million square meters a year, and an automotive safety glass plant. (das)