Jakarta (ANTARA News) - State telecommunication operator PT Indosat Tbk said on Friday shareholders had agreed to pay a dividend of Rp59.55 per share.

"This means that the dividend payout ratio is 50 percent in which the amount is the same as last year. The rest will be used for working capital," Indosat President Director Harry Sasongko Tirtotjondro said here on Friday.

Indosat saw its net profit fall 56.8 percent to Rp647.2 billion last year from Rp1.498 trillion a year earlier. The drop was the result of declining profit from exchange rate, high funding burden and rising depreciation cost.

"But overall, in 2010 we recorded stable growth and sustainable improvement as reflected by a 5.2 percent increase in operating income to Rp19,796.5 billion compared to 2009," he said.

He said shareholders also had agreed on a change in the company`s board of directors effective September 1, 2011. Curt Stefan Carlsson will take up the post of finance director replacing Peter W. Kuncewicz.

Harry Sasongko Tirtotjondro will remain at his current post as the president director.

"We are committed to giving a chance to Indonesian citizen to occupy (certain post). But during the period of transition shareholders are of the view that Indosat must be upgraded into a world-class company. Therefore, we need world-class personnel recruited from all over the world. We don`t want to compromise quality," he said. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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