T Astra International has reported a 34 percent annual increase in revenue in the first half of this year, supported by surging commodity prices.
The diversified conglomerate booked Rp 143.7 trillion (US$9.58 billion) in revenue in the January-June period, up from Rp 107.4 trillion generated in the corresponding period last year, according to its latest financial report filed with the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on Thursday.
Astra Group has more than 230 subsidiaries in seven business segments, namely the automotive industry, financial services, agribusiness, property, infrastructure and logistics, information technology as well as heavy equipment, mining, construction and energy (HEMCE). It has reported growth in almost all of the sectors it operates in.
“[Astra’s] performance for the rest of the year is expected to remain strong, although the group is expected to still face an unstable and uncertain situation,” Astra president director Djony Bunarto Tjondro said in a press statement on Thursday.
The company’s net profit, when excluding fair value gains from investments in tech giant GoTo, increased 64 percent year-on-year (yoy) to Rp 14.5 trillion.
The heavy equipment, mining, construction and energy segment, which grew 131 percent yoy and contributes the lion’s share of Rp 6.2 trillion to the company’s net profit, benefited from high prices of mining commodities, including coal and nickel.
United Tractors, the heavy equipment distributor arm of Astra, reported a 129 percent net profit increase to Rp 10.4 trillion in the first half. The subsidiary company sold 2,873 units of Komatsu heavy equipment from January to June, with the mining sector contributing 61 percent to total sales.
Indonesia’s benchmark coal price (HBA) hit $323.91 per ton in June – the highest-ever since the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry began publishing the HBA in 2009 – but declined slightly to $319 in July, ministry data show.
The benchmark price is more than double what it was a year earlier at $115.35 per ton.
Read also: United Tractors reports strong sales growth in H1
The automotive and financial segments were the second- and third-largest contributors to Astra’s net profit at Rp 4.27 trillion and Rp 2.9 trillion, respectively.
The automotive segment, which grew 29 percent yoy, benefited from a 21 percent increase in nationwide car sales to 475,000 units in the first half. Meanwhile, nationwide motorcycle sales declined 8 percent to 2.2 million units in the same period.
The company also saw its cost of revenue rise 30 percent to Rp 110.1 trillion over the same period.
Astra International’s rising earnings were in line with expectations, according to Lucky Bayu Purnomo, an analyst at LBP Enterprise.
“Astra shares are inclined to get stronger in the long term,” he told The Jakarta Post on Friday, saying that he projected Astra shares to reach Rp 7,700 by the end of this year, driven by the company’s acquisition of Bank Jasa Jakarta through its financial arm, Astra Financial.
Astra Group, through Astra Financial, acquired 49.56 percent of Bank Jasa Jakarta in a deal worth Rp 3.87 trillion, according to a statement issued on July 4.
Shares of Astra International, which is listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ASII, changed hands at Rp 6,325 on Friday afternoon and have increased 10.48 percent since the start of the year.
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