Astra International Stocks at 7-Week Low as Q1 Profits Dissapoint, Grim Prospect Awaits
Jakarta. Astra International stocks fell more than 6 percent to its lowest level in seven weeks on Wednesday (27/04) after the diversified conglomerate and Indonesia's largest car distributor reported a decline in revenue and profits amid slowing automotive market in the country.
Astra International's shares fell 6.25 percent to Rp 6,750 (50 cents) per share in the first trading session at the Indonesia Stock Exchange, whose benchmark index was up slightly by 0.35 percent.
Astra's net income dropped 22 percent to Rp 3.1 trillion from Rp 4 trillion a year earlier, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Astra still suffers from low demand in the automotive market, low price of commodities and worsening quality of corporate loans at Bank Permata," Prijono Sugiarto, Astra International president director, said in a statement.
"Business conditions are expected to remain challenging," Prijono said.
Astra's net sales also fell 7 percent to Rp 41.9 trillion in the first three months of this year from Rp 45.2 trillion in 2015.
Most of Astra's lines of business suffered a decline in profit in the January to March period except for its agribusiness and infrastructure-and-logistics units whose profits were up 168 percent to Rp 333 billion and 128 percent to Rp 82 billion respectively.
Astra's automotive business, still the biggest contributor to the company's profits, saw a 3 percent profit fall to Rp 1.58 trillion in the period.
According to the company's data, nationwide car sales fell 5 percent to 267,000 units and Astra's car sales dropped 7 percent to 127,000 units in the period. Sales of motorcycles also fell 6 percent to 1.5 million units. Astra Honda Motor's domestic sales were down slightly to 1.1 million units.
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