Siemens books 40% rise in sales in Indonesia

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

German technology and mobile phone manufacturer Siemens recorded a 40 percent increase in its Indonesian sales of Rp 2.1 trillion (US$210 million) for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 compared with the same period last year, a senior executive said.

PT Siemens Indonesia's president and CEO Juergen D. Lagleder said on Thursday that the company's earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2001, totaled Rp 70 billion.

Despite the global economic slowdown hitting the information and communications sector, the company remained the dominant supplier to all fixed and mobile operators in Indonesia, he said in a media conference here.

"We have a market share of 60 percent in the central office switching market, 25 percent in the high performance backbone market, and 35 percent in the mobile network market," Lagleder said.

He added that he expected a further increase in sales of at least 30 percent in the next financial year, depending on the political stability and economic development of Indonesia.

The company's worldwide net income, however, was substantially below last year's, totaling 2.1 billion euros (about $2.3 billion), Siemens AG's executive vice president Klaus Wucherer said in the media conference. He did not give details.

He said that new orders for Siemens worldwide had increased 17 percent, to 88.9 billion euros and sales by 15 percent, to 82.2 billion euros.

"Although growth weakened in the fourth quarter, it still remained quite substantial," Wucherer said, adding that orders in Asia has risen 10 percent, to 9.938 billion euros and sales by 24 percent, to 9.873 billion euros.

Lagleder said that Siemens was at an advantage in Indonesia due to its long commitment in the country.

Apart from information and communications, Siemens, which has been operating in Indonesia since 1895, also conducts business in energy, transportation, healthcare, building security systems, building automation systems, hearing instruments, power and lighting.

Its operations in Indonesia are supported by four production facilities where it generated almost Rp 200 billion worth of products for export in the fiscal year ended Sep. 30, 2001, Lagleder said.