Telkom allocates 23% of net profit for dividends
Telkom allocates 23% of net profit for dividends
JAKARTA (JP): PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), the state-
owned telecommunications company which will go public next month,
will allocate 23 percent of this year's net profit as dividends
for its shareholders, the firm's president said.
"Telkom expects to get a net profit of Rp 828 billion
(US$363.5 million) this year from its projected sales revenues of
Rp 5.03 trillion ($2.2 billion)," Setyanto Prawira Santosa said
yesterday in his presentation on the company's plan to sell part
of its shares to the public.
The presentation, attended by 1,500 prospective buyers as well
as members of the House of Representatives, was the company's
first domestic "roadshow" for its privatization program. The show
will continue on to the capitals of North Sumatra and East,
Central and West Java.
Telkom will likely list 25 percent of its shares on the New
York and London stock exchanges and another 10 percent on the
domestic stock exchanges. The shares will also be offered in
Tokyo without being listed there.
Setyanto said that the company will increase the dividend
portion to 30 percent until 1999.
Setyanto said Telkom is encouraging Indonesian citizens to buy
its shares by offering them up to 50 incentive shares and up to
500 for cooperatives on the condition that they keep the shares
for at least one year.
"The condition is aimed at encouraging people to gain benefits
from their long term investments in the promising company," he
said.
The incentive shares will be taken from the government's
equity in the company, he said.
He said 2.7 million current telephone subscribers in the
country are expected to buy the company's shares, thereby
increasing the number of investors on the local stock market from
its present level of 200,000.
However, the chief executive of the state-owned investment
trust company PT Danareksa Sekuritas, Agus Projosasmito, told
reporters that Telkom cannot force people to hold on to their
shares for so long.
Illiquid
"We cannot force them all to hold the shares for one year
because it will make the shares illiquid," said Agus.
According to Setyanto, 39.2 percent of the funds to be
obtained from the share issuance will be used to increase the
capacity of the company's telephone networks, 39.5 percent to
update the technologies of Telkom's facilities and 21.3 percent
to diversify products as well as to improve its information
systems.
Two other state-owned companies, PT Indosat and PT Tambang
Timah, have offered 25 percent of their shares on overseas stock
exchanges and another 10 percent on the local markets.
Setyanto said Telkom's total assets are expected to increase
from Rp 11.74 trillion as of the end of last year to Rp 15.6
trillion by the end of this year.(kod)