"The exchange rate loss came from the US dollar loans. We did not hedge them 100 percent," the company`s president director and CEO, Harry Sasongko, said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Publicaly listed PT Indosat (ISAT) suffered a loss of Rp131.8 billion in the first semester this year due to fluctuations of the rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar.

"The exchange rate loss came from the US dollar loans. We did not hedge them 100 percent," the company`s president director and CEO, Harry Sasongko, said here on Tuesday.

Because of the situation the company`s per share net profit dropped 118.2 percent to Rp24.26 from Rp133.33 in the same period last year.

"We hedged only around 30 percent," he added.

In the second semester this year, he said, ISAT plans to repay its debt totaling Rp2.9 trillion to make the company`s total debt that rose 16.9 percent in the first semester to decline.

"The debt rose because we issued bond worth Rp3 trillion," he said.

Harry however was optimistic ISAT`s performance in the second semester would improve in line with the increasing trend in the corporate income recorded by 3.3 percent to Rp10.4 trillion in the first semester this year from Rp10.04 trillion in the same period last year.

Quarterly the company`s revenue in the second quarter grew 8.5 percent from that of the same period before. "Most of the revenue came from cellular business," he said.

In the first semester cellular business contributed Rp8.5 trillion in income which was up 3.7 percent from the same period last year.

To strengthen business revenue in the second semester Harry said the company has focused on customers that give an added value rather than seeking to increase the number of customers.

As a result the number of customers had dropped by around two percent to 50.9 millions in the second quarter compared to 52.1 millions in the first semester.

However the number of customers kept growing in the first semester this year by 7.6 percent from 47.3 million recorded in the same period last year. (*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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