TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Multipolar spends more on pay TV business
Diversified holding company PT Multipolar, part of the Lippo Group conglomerate, will allocate 50 percent of its capital expenditure (capex) to developing its pay television business, especially its newly launched satellite TV station BigTV
Change Size
Diversified holding company PT Multipolar, part of the Lippo Group conglomerate, will allocate 50 percent of its capital expenditure (capex) to developing its pay television business, especially its newly launched satellite TV station BigTV.
The company's public relations head, Agus Arismunandar, said Friday that the new pay TV business, which was launched by Multipolar's subsidiary PT Multipolar Multimedia Prima (MMP) as recently as October last year, had received a positive response from the public ' as indicated by its number of customers.
Although the pay TV business has been on the market for only a few months, it has already garnered 150,000 subscribers, he said.
'We plan to increase the number of customers to 600,000 by the end of this year,' Agus said after a general shareholders' meeting in Jakarta on Friday. 'Aside from BigTV, we will also develop our data center business,' said Agus.
BigTV is the second pay TV unit owned by the Lippo Group, joining the First Media service, a cable-based TV and internet provider.
Previously, another Multipolar subsidiary, PT Multipolar Technology (MLPT), said it would allocate Rp 150 billion (US$13.14 million) to developing it data centers. The rest of its capex will be used to boost its retail units, which include department store Matahari, supermarkets Hypermart and Foodmart, as well as pharmacy Boston Health & Beauty, according to Agus.
'Our capex this year is about nine percent of last year's net sales,' said the company's director Richard Setiadi. However, although the company is pouring half its capex into developing its pay TV units, Multipolar does not expect to earn much from them.
'The biggest contributor to our income this year will most likely still come from retail, which last year reached more than 80 percent of our total income.
I predict that our income composition won't change much from last year,' said Agus.
Last year, its retail and distribution services contributed 87.87 percent to total sales with Rp 12.89 trillion -- a 14.37 percent increase compared to 2012's figure of Rp 11.27 trillion.
Meanwhile its IT units contributed nearly 10 percent to its total sales last year, with Rp 1.41 trillion, while stock administration and other services made up the remainder.
According to Richard, the company is aiming this year to increase its net income by 20 percent from last year's Rp 444.9 billion.
'As for business expansion, our plan in the near future is to open 20 new Hypermart stores and 15 new Matahari department stores across the country,' Agus said, without elaborating on the exact locations.
Last year the company opened a total of 39 new stores, consisting of 19 Hypermart stores, three Foodmart stores and 17 Boston Health & Beauty outlets.
Multipolar primarily operates in retail, IT and multimedia. Its two main subsidiaries are PT Matahari Putra Prima (MPP), which runs Hypermart, Foodmart and Boston, and PT Matahari Department Store (MDS).
Last year, the company reported a profit of Rp 1.64 trillion, a significant increase from the previous year's
Rp 166.58 billion, while the company's gross profits increased by 17.8 percent to Rp 2.65 trillion in 2013, compared to Rp 2.25 trillion the previous year.
By the end of 2013, MPP was operating 222 stores while MDS had 25 stores. Multipolar also owns both Hipermart and Robbinz, which operate in China. (dwa)
