RI billionaire sells off more Alfamart shares

JAKARTA. PT Sigmantara Alfindo, owned by Djoko Susanto, one of richest men in Indonesia, has sold part of its holding in publicly listed PT Sumber Alfaria Trijaya, operator of Alfamart minimarkets, following a similar move last month.

According to a report filed with the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Sigmantara sold 147.75 million shares in Sumber Alfaria at Rp 4,100 per share. Sigmantara received about Rp 605.78 billion (US$66.03 million) from the divestment.

“The transaction was concluded on Jan. 3, 2012 as a divestment,” Djoko, the 25th richest man in the country according to Forbes, said in the report.

The sell-off reduced Sigmantara’s ownership of Sumber Alfaria to 53.68 percent.

Sigmantara sold 343.18 million shares in Sumber Alfaria on Dec. 7, 2011, at Rp 4,500 per share. Sigmantara earned Rp 1.54 trillion from that divestment which reduced its shareholding in Sumber Alfaria to 57.99 percent.

The share purchasers were not identified in either deal.

Sumber Alfaria reported a net profit of Rp 226.34 billion in the first nine months of 2011, an increase of about 48 percent from Rp 152.36 billion in the same period in 2010. The company’s revenue stood at Rp 13.42 trillion in the January to September 2011 period, surging by about 34 percent from Rp 10.08 trillion in the same period in 2010.

Sumber Alfaria director Pudjianto said that the company expected a 25 percent increase in revenue for the full year of 2011, compared to Rp 14.06 trillion in 2010.

“We estimate a lower percentage increase in 2012 because we saw such a significant increase in 2011. It’s difficult to book higher increases when we’ve already achieved such a considerable rise,” Pudjianto told The Jakarta Post over the telephone on Wednesday.

He also said that his company would be weighed down by higher expenses after the recent increase in the regional minimum wage. Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo set a new monthly minimum wage in the city of Rp 1.53 million last November. Demands for increased minimum wages have also been heard in other regions.

According to Sumber Alfaria’s financial report of September 2011, the company runs 3,941 Alfamarts nationwide, including in Jakarta, Tangerang, Bandung, Surabaya, Cirebon, Cilacap, Semarang, Lampung, Malang, Bali and Makassar. The number of minimarkets rose 19.42 percent from 3,300 in September 2010.

Sumber Alfaria, which officially floated its shares on the IDX on Jan. 15, 2009, also reported 1,536 Alfamart stores run by franchisees as of September 2011, an increase of 35.21 percent from 1,136 in
September 2010.

Pudjianto said that Sumber Alfa-ria was planning to open four more Alfamart outlets in the near future.

“Three stores will be located in Jakarta, Jember and Pekanbaru. We are still studying the location for the fourth one,” he said. Pudjianto added that Sumber Alfaria expected a 40 percent increase in the number of Alfamart stores run by franchisees.(The Jakarta Post)