Telkom to pay out hefty dividend
The Jakarta Post | Sat, 06/21/2008 12:21 PM | Business
State-controlled PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), the nation's
largest telecommunication company, announced Friday it would distribute
the largest dividend payment in its history.
President director Rinaldy Firmansyah said the company would allocate
around Rp 9 trillion (US$967 million) or 70 percent of its 2007 net
profit for dividends. Some 55 percent of the dividend will be paid out
next month and the remaining 15 percent in October, according to the
firm.
"This is to show the company always gives its best to the shareholders.
The share price today (Friday) has increased by Rp 200 since news of the
dividend went out," Rinaldy said after an annual shareholder meeting.
Telkom, the country's stock market bellwether, recorded a 16 percent
jump in net profit last year to Rp 12.86 trillion. During the meeting,
Telkom gained shareholder approval to allocate Rp 3 trillion for another
series of share buybacks. The company is also planning to spend Rp 23.5
trillion this year on capital expenditure, in which 40 percent will be
secured from bank loans.
Around Rp 15 trillion of the expenditure will be allocated for its
cellular subsidiary PT Telkomsel, while the remainder will be used for
other Telkom businesses, including fixed wireless TelkomFlexi.
Telkom is currently opening up the bidding process to acquire Rp 3
trillion in loans. The lender, Rinaldy said, would probably be in the
form of a consortium of local and foreign banks. The decision will be
made after July.
"The most important thing is to have the (lending) commitment. We will
withdraw the money gradually as needed.
"The majority of the lenders should be state-owned banks because they
are the biggest banks in Indonesia, and we are also a state-owned
(company)," he said.
Just before the shareholder meeting, commissioner member Anggito
Abimanyu, the Finance Ministry's head of fiscal policy, tendered his
resignation following an ethical ruling by the ministry banning its
officials from having other jobs.
The rule is aimed at preventing conflicts of interest and streamlining
the workload at the ministry. His resignation is expected to be approved
during the upcoming shareholder meeting. (mri)
