Ometraco's profit up 22%

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed conglomerate PT Ometraco Corporation's 1996 net rose 22 percent from Rp 54.4 billion in 1995 to Rp 66.3 billion (US$27.3 million) last year.

The company's financial services division contributed most of the profit growth with a 77 percent increase in pretax profit, while the infrastructure division had a bad year.

"Several infrastructure business lines were affected by the state electric authority's unexpected policy of reducing its purchases to a minimum level," the company said.

But the company said the impact of this was cushioned somewhat by its extensive performing customer base.

Ometraco, which is 65 percent owned by the Santosa family, deals in financial services (banking, multifinance and insurance), consumer products (integrated meat products and consumer foods), and infrastructure (equipment for the power and telecommunications industries). (rid)