Permata's Q1 net profit rises by 3%

Permata's Q1 net profit rises by 3%

JAKARTA: The seventh largest domestic lender Bank Permata
booked a 3.56 percent increase in net profit in the first three
months of 2005 on higher interest income and loan expansion.

The bank posted an unaudited net income of Rp 131 billion
(US$13.74 million) in the first quarter ending March 31 from Rp
127 billion booked last year, it said in a statement.

Net interest income rose to Rp 404 billion in the year's first
quarter from Rp 385 billion in 2004. Outstanding loans at the
bank as of March 31 totaled Rp 16.1 trillion, a 52.5 percent
increase from the same period a year earlier.

UK-based lender Standard Chartered holds a 31.55 percent of
stake in Permata, domestic auto giant PT Astra International
controls 31.55 percent and the government has 26.16 percent,
while the public holds the rest of the stake. -- JP