Jakarta (ANTARA News) - PT Astra International Tbk (ASII) reported a 8 percent increase in net profit to Rp14.5 trillion in the first three quarter of this year from Rp13.46 trillion in the same period last year.

Prijono Sugiarto, the president of the company described the performance as satisfactory amid the tight competition in automotive market and falling price of coal.

Astra, which is the largest automotive company in the country, also has business units in various business areas including coal mining industry .

"I believe the companys performance would not change much until the end of the year," he said in a statement here on Thursday.

He said the performance of the automotive division is slowing because of a decline in profit margin in the sector of four wheelers.

Astras car sales fell 1 percent, but a 9 percent increase was recorded in the sales of motorcycles.

Its finance business unit that finance credit for the purchases of Astra cars rose 11 percent and sales recorded by its of heavy equipment unit rose slightly mainly because of an increase in the sales of spare parts.

Sales of heavy equipment itself declined on slump in coal mining business.

Astras financial performance showed a6 percent increase in consolidated net income to Rp150.6 trillion in the first nine months of the year from the same period last year.

The increase was attributable mainly to an increase in income from the agribusiness and mining contract, Prijono said.

He said the net value of the companys assets per share is Rp2,236 on 30 September 2014, up 8 percent from Rp2,073 by the end of 2013.

The consolidated debt not including those of the financial service was Rp3.8 trillion , up 3 percent from the end of 2013. The financial sector business alone recorded a net debt of Rp43.4 trillion, up slightly from Rp42.3 trillion a year earlier.

(SYS/H-ASG/H-YH)

Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2014