PT Tri Polyta shares down from oversupply
PT Tri Polyta shares down from oversupply
JAKARTA (JP): PT Tri Polyta Indonesia, the country's largest
producer of polypropylene resins, yesterday listed 257.5 million
shares on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) with a base share
price of Rp 2,575 (US$1.09).
A JSX director, Mas Achmad Daniri, said the base price was
determined by last week's $12 closing price per American
Depository Receipt (ADR) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
One ADR represents ten ordinary shares.
Tri Polyta was the first Indonesian company to be listed in
the United States. In July 1994 it sold almost 74.75 million
shares, 29 percent of its total shares, on the National
Association of Security Dealers Automated Quotations' (NASDAQ)
market system. On March 14, 1995, share trading was transferred
to the NYSE.
Vice president Henry Pribadi said that, under a company-
listing arrangement, all of Tri Polyta shares are listed on the
JSX but only 74.75 million can be traded. The other 182.75
million shares are frozen for an eight-month period starting
yesterday.
Daniri said Tri Polyta was the 238th company to be listed on
the JSX. He said it has a market capitalization of Rp 663
billion, compared to the JSX's total capitalization yesterday of
Rp 176 trillion.
"Jakarta's listing is aimed to help Indonesian investors to
buy Tri Polyta shares and to facilitate American investors to
convert their ADR into shares," Henry said.
Tri Polyta shares have dropped continually since they were
listed on NASDAQ.
The current price around $12 per ADR is much lower than its
initial $27 price two years ago.
In the third quarter of 1994, the shares' highest price was
$27.63 per ADR. Its lowest was $21.75.
Prices peaked at $30.75 per ADR in the last quarter of 1994.
The shares' prices peaked at $26.25 per ADR in the first
quarter of 1995 (against a lowest value of $21). They continued
to declined in the second quarter, peaking at $22.63 ($16.50
lowest value). They rose slightly to $23.88 ($17.25 lowest value)
in the third quarter but plunged back sharply to $17.75 ($10.50
lowest value) in the last quarter of 1995.
In the first quarter of 1996, the highest price was $14.63 and
the lowest was $12.75. In the second quarter, the price was
stagnant at around $12.
A company director, Markus Hartanto, claimed the weakening
share performance was due mainly to an oversupply on the world
polypropylene market following China's move to cut imports of the
product from June last year.
Moreover, according to Markus, the decline was attributable to
new listings by some Asian competitors on the NYSE which gave
investors more alternatives.
Henry said that other petrochemical companies were hurt by
last year's oversupply.
Tri Polyta's 1995 net profit was only Rp 64.9 billion compared
to Rp 70.8 billion in 1994. This is despite a 22 percent increase
in sales to Rp 587 billion in 1995.
Tri Polyta's earnings per ADR dropped from $1.50 in 1994 to
$1.09 last year. (alo)