Indonesia's Astra Intl Q1 net profit up 21 pct yr-on-yr on stronger sales
JAKARTA (XFN-ASIA) - PT Astra International said its first quarter to March
net profit rose 21 pct year-on-year on the back of stronger sales.
Astra booked a net profit of 1.28 trln rupiah in the first quarter against
1.06 trln a year earlier.
It said sales grew 10 pct year-on-year to 14.73 trln rupiah in the quarter
while operating profit increased 19 pct year-on-year to 1.62 trln rupiah.
"Almost all of our businesses showed signs of improvement. We hope this trend
will continue supported by gradual cuts in (the) interest rate," Astra
president Michael Ruslim said in a statement.
He referred to the central bank's trimming its benchmark interest rate by a
cumulative 375 basis points since May last year to the current 9.0 pct
currently. The rate cuts have helped car and motorcycle sales to rebound.
Ruslim said the automotive business contributed 446 bln rupiah to operating
profit in the quarter, an increase of 109 pct from a year ago.
Meanwhile, the non-automotive businesses, which include financial services,
plantations and heavy equipment, posted operating profit of 1.2 trln rupiah in
the quarter, or just 2 pct higher than a year ago.
(1 usd = 9,090 rupiah)
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ab/kmq xfnab/xfnkm MMMM KVY45-30Apr07 11:50 GMT
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