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ggressive expansion by PT Erajaya Swasembada, the local distributor for Nokia, BlackBerry, Samsung and nine other top mobile phone brands, saw net sales more than double to Rp 6.41 trillion (US$676.52 million) in the first half of 2012, the company announced Wednesday.

The publicly listed company’s net profits soared to Rp 212.14 billion between January and June, up 217 percent from the same period of 2011.

Erajaya business development director Jeremy Sim attributed the increase to the opening of new outlets, sales by TAM (PT Teletama Artha Mandiri), cheaper mobile service prices, Indonesia’s positive economic growth and stronger consumer buying power.

TAM contributed about 50 percent to the company’s sales, Jeremy said during a public event.

Erajaya bought TAM, the distributor of BlackBerry, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Huawei and the owner of local brand Venera, for $85 million in August 2011.

“Sales of 11 brands of mobile phones accounted for 90 percent of our total sales. The rest came from prepaid vouchers, accessories and other products,” Jeremy said.

Erajaya opened two megastores and 50 outlets in 2012. It now operates 326 outlets and 90 distribution centers. As of June, the company’s total assets stood at Rp 3.32 trillion.

“Of the Rp 98 billion allocated for capital expenditures this year, we have disbursed Rp 43 billion for expansion and network distribution projects,” Jeremy said.

To reach its sales target of Rp 12.5 trillion this year, Erajaya will open 44 more outlets and greater variety in its products, he said. “Besides mobile phones, we have started to offer IT products, such as notebooks and netbooks. We also plan to sell cameras,” he added.

Sales of IT products will be aided by the recent acquisition of iBox, an Apple product reseller and service provider, according to Jeremy.

Erajaya, through its subsidiary PT Data Citra Mandiri, paid $18 million for iBox from Grandoff International Limited Singapore and PT Hidup Gaya Digital early this month.

iBox was expected to contribute about 5 percent of Erajaya’s sales in the remainder of this year, Jeremy said.

Erajaya has allocated Rp 20 billion to open 10 new iBox stores this year, targeting customers in Bali, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Sumatra. The new stores will bring the total number of iBox stores in Indonesia to 20.

Erajaya also owns several other distribution companies, including PT Erafone Artha Retailindo, PT Sinar Eka Selaras, PT Prakarsa Prima Sentosa, PT Multi Media Selular, and PT Data Media Telekomunikasi. (tas)