The company recorded a net loss of Rp 2.1 trillion (US$146.23 million) in the first three months of this year as it recorded Rp 2.39 trillion in currency loss during the period. The rupiah weakened to its lowest level in history of Rp 16,625 against the US dollar during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in March.

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“In accordance with mark to market accounting policies, we incurred a one-off currency loss as the rupiah depreciated against the dollar,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Despite the weak bottom line, the company still recorded growth in its top line.

The Riady family-backed company’s revenue grew 8.5 percent year-on-year (yoy) to Rp 3.1 trillion in January to March, on account of increased revenue in its real estate and healthcare businesses.

The company said its real estate development business revenue grew 12.3 percent to Rp 678 billion due to recognized income from the completed Orange County apartment complex project in Cikarang, West Java, as well as strong commercial land, shop-houses and industrial land growth at its subsidiary, property developer PT Lippo Cikarang.

“In addition, our largest revenue contributor, the healthcare business segment, continued to grow with 9.7 percent yoy revenue increase to Rp 1.88 trillion in the first quarter,” the company added.

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Its subsidiary, publicly listed hospital firm Siloam Hospitals, contributed to about 77 percent of Lippo Karawaci’s revenue in the first quarter.

Lippo Karawaci also recorded rising marketing sales to Rp 703 billion, up by 13 percent yoy during the period. The figure was also equal to 28.12 percent of the firm’s market sales target of Rp 2.5 trillion this year.

CEO John Riady said the sales were driven by the recently-launched Waterfront Estate project in Cikarang.

Going forward, it plans to continue the launch of a new housing project in its Lippo Village township in Karawaci, Tangerang in the second half of the year, which targets the middle-income segment.

“In this unprecedented time, we continue to emphasize prudence in managing our cash flow and remain focused on operational excellence in our core businesses, property and healthcare,” said John.

Although the property industry continues to slump amid the pandemic, Anugerah Mega Investama director Hans Kwee expressed optimism that the sector would recover once the pandemic was contained.

“Companies like Lippo Karawaci will likely see an increase in property demand for certain market segments,” he told The Jakarta Post, adding that the pandemic had caused people to realize their need for housing.

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He went on to say that the government’s plan to boost homeownership in Indonesia through the public housing savings program (Tapera) could also help the company sell more residential property in the future.

As for the end of this year, Hans said the firm’s performance would be supported by its healthcare business.

“This pandemic has made people realize that health is the most important thing. Thus, I believe Lippo Karawaci’s healthcare business will see higher demand this year,” he said.

Lippo Karawaci, traded on the Indonesia Stock Exchange under the code LPKR, fell more than 4 percent as of 1:35 p.m. Jakarta time on Wednesday. The stocks have lost almost 40 percent of their value in the last year.

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