Prasidha to issue bonus shares

JAKARTA (JP): Shareholders of the publicly listed PT Prasidha Aneka Niaga (PAN) approved a plan to issue 60 million bonus shares.

The company's president, Mansjur Tandiono, said the issue would increase the number of shares to 180 million.

"We decided also to split the share's nominal value from Rp 1,000 (41 U.S. cents) to Rp 500 and the split will double the number of the shares to 360 million," Mansjur said after the annual general and extraordinary shareholders meeting.

PAN is still waiting for the Capital Market Supervisory Agency to approve the split and the bonus issue.

PAN's manager for investor relations, Taufik Alia, said the share split would improve the liquidity of PAN shares because they would become more affordable for small investors.

"We expect the price of PAN shares to decline by a third after the bonus share issue and the share split," he said.

PAN's director of finance, Sukiantono Budinarta, said the company's consolidated net profit rose from Rp 26.7 billion in 1995 to Rp 30.6 billion last year despite a drop in sales revenue from Rp 752 billion to Rp 740.8 billion.

The company's total assets fell from Rp 431 billion to Rp 410 billion, while its equity rose from Rp 226 billion to Rp 244 billion.

PAN, Indonesia's biggest processor and exporter of food and plantation products, like coffee, cocoa, rubber, tapioca, vanilla and pepper, is listed on Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges.

PAN exported 100,00 tons of the 119,000 tons of coffee beans it produced last year. This is about a quarter of Indonesia's coffee exports. Indonesian coffee makes up about 2 percent of world supply.

Taufik said PAN collected Rp 432 billion from coffee sales, Rp 199 billion from rubber sales, Rp 37 billion from tapioca sales, Rp 49 billion from cocoa sales, Rp 17 billion from pepper and vanilla sales. Revenue from its hotel service was Rp 5 billion, while other sectors contributed Rp 700 million.

He said coffee bean sales were expected to drop to Rp 342 billion this year but the company would get Rp 57 billion from instant and ground coffee sales.

Tapioca sales are expected to fall to Rp 33 billion, rubber sales to rise to Rp 250 million, pepper and vanilla to Rp 26 billion. Revenue from cocoa sales are seen constant at Rp 49 billion and its hotel service steady at Rp 5 billion.

Mansjur said the company invested US$23 million last month on a new coffee processing plant in Sidoardjo, East Java. The new plant will have an annual production capacity of 2,400 tons of ground coffee and 3,600 tons of instant coffee. (10)