SSE expects five more firms to list this year

JAKARTA (JP): The Surabaya Stock Exchange (SSE) expects five more companies to list this year.

The exchange's president, Isakayoga, said yesterday the five companies would list exclusively on the Surabaya bourse.

"We cannot disclose the names of the five companies but the underwriting companies are working on the listing plans," he said after the exchange's annual members meeting yesterday.

The exchange's director, Bibin Bisono, said the five companies would be financial institutions, securities companies and venture capital companies.

He said Panin Securities, which was preparing its initial public offering might be one of them.

There are 209 companies on the SSE but only 11 are listed only on the Surabaya bourse. The remaining 198 are cross listed from the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX).

Trade on the Surabaya exchange, Indonesia's first privately- run stock bourse, has been quiet for years because investors prefer to trade on the JSX, which was run by the Capital Market Supervisory Agency before being privatized in the early 1990s.

Surabaya's only active section is the crossing board, which offers investors much lower transaction fees.

Isakayoga said the exchange was interested in trading futures contracts.

"I have had informal discussion with the chairman of the Capital Market Supervisory Agency and he agreed with the idea," he said.

"It is still in a very preliminary stage, and there are a lot of things to take care of, " he said.

He said it would take between 18 months and 24 months for the exchange to prepare options trade regulations.

The transaction value of shares traded on the Surabaya bourse fell from Rp 5.25 billion in 1995 to Rp 4.23 billion last year.

Most trade took place on the cross and bloc sale boards.

Isakayoga said bond trade was improving because of the introduction of the over-the-counter trading for the debt instruments.

Bond market transaction value for January was Rp 548 billion but fell to Rp 423.5 billion in February.

In March, it rose to Rp 634.5 billion.

The exchange, which booked net profit of Rp 2.09 billion in 1995, suffered a net loss of Rp 59 million last year.

The exchange's revenue was Rp 6.81 billion last year, almost unchanged from 1995.

The exchange expected a Rp 297 million net profit this year, he said. (09)