Jardine Cycle & Carriage profits down 1% to $553m in H1

It was hit by Astra’s underperforming agribusiness, information technology and automotive units.

Jardine Cycle & Carriage (JC&C) profits dipped 1% YoY to $553m in H1 from $570m in the same period in 2018 after earnings from its Indonesia-based vehicle distributing firm, Astra, fell by 8% YoY to $449.96m. Revenue also fell to $12.64b (US$9.16b) from $12.68b (US$9.19b) in H1 2018.

Underlying earnings per share were also down 1% to $1.45. The company’s net debt in the period rose to $4.28b (US$3.1b), compared to $3.04b (US$2.2b) at the end of 2018. This debt increase was largely due to Astra’s additional investments in the Surabaya-Mojokerto toll road and Gojek, as well as capital expenditure in its mining contracting business, and additional investment by JC&C in Truong Hai Auto Corporation.

Also read: Jardine Cycle & Carriage profits soared 131% to US$312m in Q1

The decline in Astra’s profit can be attributed to lower contributions from its automotive and agribusiness divisions, offsetting the increased contributions from the financial services and heavy equipment, mining, construction and energy divisions.

Net income of Astra’s agribusiness business plummeted 94% to $2.76m (US$2m) due to an 18% fall in crude palm oil prices. The information technology division’s net income also fell 35% to $4.14m (US$3m), which was blamed on reduced revenue in IT solutions and office services business as well as higher operating costs. JC&C’s automotive division also saw its net income slide 18% to $336.78m (US$244m), mainly due to lower car sales volumes and increased manufacturing costs.

On the other hand, net income from Astra’s financial services division grew 32% to $274.67m (US$199m), thanks to the recovery of non-performing loans, lower loan loss provisions and a larger loan portfolio. Its heavy equipment, mining, construction and energy division also saw its net income up 2% to $324.36m (US$235m), attributed to the contribution from the new gold mining operation.

JC&C declared an interim one-tier tax exempt dividend of $0.25 (US$0.18) per share for the same period.

You're the reader we write for. You're also the person our partners want to reach.

If that sentence describes you — a founder, a C-suite, someone whose attention companies pay good money for — then you already understand why SBR works. We've spent twenty years earning the trust of readers exactly like you. Which is exactly what makes this an interesting place for your company to show up, too.

The ways it can show up are broader than most people assume — thought leadership articles, sponsored content, industry summits across Southeast Asia, regional awards programmes, podcasts, and media placements in print and digital. The right fit depends on what you're trying to do, which is why we'd rather start with a conversation than send a rate card.

If your company has something this audience should know about, we'd like to hear what you're working on.

No rate cards until we understand the brief. It's a better use of everyone's time.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia

Top News

30 One-Sentence Stories From People Who Have Built Better Habits

None of these stories are mine. They were sent to me by readers of Atomic Habits. My hope is that these examples will illustrate how real people are putting the book into practice. They will show you what people are actually doing to build good habits and break bad ones. And hopefully, they will spark some ideas for how you can do the same.

news conversion

SBR 5 Lorem Ipsum News 2 [8 May]

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

SBR 4 Lorem Ipsum [8 May Top Stories]