REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- PT Astra International Tbk (ASII) reported a net profit of Rp4.7 trillion in the first quarter of this year or a 10 percent increase year-on-year.

President Director of the country's largest automotive company Prijono Sugiarto attributed the rise in profit more to increase income from agribusiness.

Income from business in the automotive sector declined despite an increase in sales of cars and motorcycles because of the tight competition, Prijono said in a statement here on Monday.

The Astra Group has business units in various sectors including in automotive industry, financial service, mining, heavy equipment infrastructure, agribusiness, logistics and information technology.

Prijono said the company's income from its agribusiness grew especially because of an increase in CPO price.

He said contribution from the mining sector to the company's income also was not up to expectation because of falling price of coal.

The company's coal production increase but the price is low, he added.

He said competition in the car market is predicted to remain sharp and coal price to continue to be low through this year.

The net income of the publicly traded company in the first quarter of this year was Rp49.8 trillion, up 7 percent from the same period last year, and its net profit per share rose 10 percent to Rp117.

Its net assets was valued at Rp2,197 per share by March 31, 2014, up from Rp2,073 by the end of 2013.

Its heavy equipment and mining subsidiaries contributed Rp959 billion to its net profit or an increase of 39 percent year-on-year.

The net profit from its agribusiness unit rose 120 percent to Rp625 billion, from the information technology unit increased 26 percent to Rp26 billion.

Meanwhile a decline of 5 percent was recorded in its profit respectively from its automotive business to Rp2 trillion and from its financial service to Rp981 billion.

A sharper decline of 30 percent was recorded in its net profit from infrastructure and logistics business to Rp87 billion.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika