PGN to pay half of profit as dividend

PGN to pay half of profit as dividend

JAKARTA: State gas distributor PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) will it pay half of its 2004 profit to shareholders as dividend even as earnings last year fell short of its target.

PGN will pay at least Rp 52 a share as dividend, president director WMP Simandjuntak announced in Jakarta. In a mobile text message Simandjuntak had earlier said the company planned to pay Rp 52.8 a share, or Rp 237.2 billion (US$25 million), as dividend.

The difference is because some of the company's stock options have yet to be exercised.

PGN's audited 2004 net income fell 7 percent to Rp 474.3 billion, compared with its forecast of a profit gain, because foreign-exchange losses widened and the cost of servicing debt rose, the company said on March 31. -- Bloomberg