State firms H1 profits grew 20%: Ministry

In reviewing the first-half performance of state firms, the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry said Friday the combined net profit would likely increase by 20 percent despite sluggish growth in the telecommunication and mining sectors.

Ministry secretary Said Didu said the banking and financial services sectors remained on a positive trajectory for growth due to high investment returns in securities and credit expansion.

”Net profit in financial services and banking sectors increased significantly. Bad debt has been resolved quite well and investment in the sector is pretty good as well,” he said Friday.

Indonesia has four state banks listed on the stock exchange, Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN).

Bank Mandiri and Bank BRI booked Rp 4.03 trillion and Rp 4.3 trillion in net profit in the first half, up 37.8 percent and 22.28 percent respectively from the same period last year. BNI’s first-half net profit climbed 61 percent to Rp 1.9 trillion and BTN’s jumped 97.11 percent to Rp 390.61 billion.

Combined first-half net profit of the four publicly-listed state
banks was Rp 10.6 trillion, up from Rp 8 trillion in the same period
last year.

The average 20 percent growth estimate excludes oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and electricity monopoly PT PLN, Said said, adding that the two companies looked unlikely to achieve their targets. Pertamina and PLN, which are not publicly listed, have not issued financial reports.

“There are some changes that could mean [Pertamina and PLN] may not achieve their target, including the government’s aborted plan to raise prices for 12-kilogram Pertamina gas canisters and the government’s decision to cap the electricity tariff increase to not more than 10 percent,” he said.

Said added that Pertamina and PLN accounted for a combined 35 percent of overall income of state-owned enterprises.

The government’s crown jewel company in the stock market, PT Telkom, was expected to post weak first-half earnings. “Net profit growth will likely be flat for all state firms in the telecommunications sector, including Telkom,” he said.

State mining companies also underperformed, not because of a trend in the sector, but for “corporate reasons”, he said.

Publicly-listed coal mining firm PT Bukit Asam recorded a 43 percent slump in net profits in the first quarter to Rp 908 billion as selling prices plunged.

However, the construction sector performed well in the first half.

The country’s largest toll road operator PT Jasa Marga booked a 63 percent increase in first-half net income to Rp 647.6 billion. State-Owned Enterprises Minister Mustafa Abubakar previously said that only 10 state-owned enterprises would suffer losses in the 2010 financial year, compared to 20 firms last year.

With the combined figure from all sectors, the ministry said it was still upbeat about achieving its target of getting the more than 130 state-owned enterprises to book Rp 94 trillion in net profit by year-end.

“We still have to wait until the second half. But I am optimistic
we will achieve our target,” Said said. (est)