Country Profile: Indonesia

Earlier this month, I attended OpenWebAsia – South East Asia (South EAsia/a>) in Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia, a two-day tech and web industry event that attracted over 350 international attendees. The event shined a spotlight on a market that’s still largely overlooked: a whopping 600 million people live in South East Asia, which boasts a rapidly growing web and mobile population.

What follows is a short summary of just a few presentations, panel discussions, and startup demos I witnessed at OpenWebAsia (those with a focus on Asia only). I will update this article with more material once it becomes available (find the agendas for day one and two here and here.....

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KARACHI: A Pakistani firm has defaulted on cotton shipments worth 2.7 million dollars to China and Indonesia, The News learnt on Thursday. Indi

Billionaire T. Ananda Krishnan is set to buy out utilities and gaming company Tanjong plc (2267), the second of his listed firms in three days in a deal worth RM4.4 billion, two sources with direct knowledge of the deal said. Ananda's Usaha Tegas investment vehicle will launch a bid for Tanjong today at RM20.50 per share for 53 per cent of the 403 million shares not held, said the two sources who declined to identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media. That is a 14.65 per cent premium to the last traded price for Tanjong, in a move that comes after another Ananda vehicle launched a RM662 million cash buyout for Measat Global on Wednesday. Analysts say Ananda's plan is to restructure and recapitalise the companies as private firms in order to increase their profile and expand their businesses. Reclusive tycoon Ananda has.....

VIRTUAL Peaks Group Bhd, a construction and property group, is diversifying into the hotel industry and it believes it can do the business better than rivals. Executive chairman Datuk Hashimuddin Datuk Abdul Kadir thinks its latest international venture, the redevelopment of boutique resort and spa the Emerald Tulamben in Bali, Indonesia, could provide a return in five years. "The hotel industry standard usually takes 15 years, but we are confident with our earnings in US dollar and costs in rupiah, we are able to recoup that quickly," he told reporters at a briefing to announce the group's purchase of the Bali resort. The US$15 million (RM48 million) hotel will be operated by the group's newly-formed hotel management company, Amanda International. "Having one of our subsidiaries to manage the re-development of this project is good business acumen. It is not.....

AMRESEARCH maintained recommendations on AirAsia Bhd (5099) after the company announced its second quarter operating statistics. During the announcement, AirAsia said passenger load factor improved over 5 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 73 per cent, led by 6 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth in revenue-passenger-kilometre (RPK). Year-on-year (YoY) basis, RPK was up by 15 per cent and loads were up by 5 per cent. "AirAsia's first half 2010 passenger traffic (Malaysian operations) accounted for 46 per cent of our full year estimates. We consider the operating numbers in line with our expectation as historically, first half of the year accounts for 45-49 per cent of full year passenger traffic (measured in RPK terms). "Meanwhile, both Thai AirAsia (TAA) and Indonesia AirAsia

THE Malaysian Franchise Association expects the 17th Franchise International Malaysia 2010, which begins today to register a 10 per cent sales increase to RM370 million from RM340 million last year on improving economy. Its vice-president Abd Malik Abdullah said the growth is in line with the world's franchise industry average revenue growth of 15 per cent spanning across various industries such as healthcare, food, education, services, laundry and others. "The franchise industry is a very resiliant sector with very little risk during the world economic crisis," Abd Malik said. He spoke to reporters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday at a sneak preview of the three-day event to be launched by Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob. A total of 68 local and international franchisors, including from Singapore, Macau and Indonesia will participate. They will take up 110 display booths, of which 70 per cent are locals spanning across various sectors which include cosmetics, medical, retail, laundry, food and services industries. The conference and exhibition event is expected to attract over 10,000 visitors compared to almost 8,000 last year.

COMINTEL Corp Bhd (7195), a system integrator that provides IT and telecommunication solutions, believes it can return to the black this year and sustain its earnings moving forward, helped by its order book as well as overseas expansion. The company, which offers technical solutions to Malaysian police force and military, posted a net loss of over RM10.3 million for the financial year ended January 31. It posted a net profit of RM1.25 million for the financial year ended January 31 2009 and RM9.9 million the year before. Its sales also declined by 4 per cent to RM297.5 million, from RM309.9 million the year before. "We have an order book of RM125 million, but because of the economic slowdown last year, the projects could not be rolled out. We expect our customers to start rolling out the projects this year. "Our manufacturing business, which makes.....

CPO FUTURES PRICES of crude palm oil (CPO) futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended higher yesterday on the back of steady crude oil price, dealers said. Concerns on a shortage of supply due to the rainy season and price rise in commodities generally were also among contributing factors to the positive trend, a dealer said. "The market should remain steady as festival period buying remains strong with demand coming from China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia," the dealer said. At close, CPO futures contracts for August 2010 and September 2010 rose RM14 each to close at RM2,585 and RM2,542 a tonne respectively, while October 2010 and November 2010 both were RM19 higher at RM2,514 and RM2,506 a tonne respectively. RUBBER MALAYSIAN rubber prices closed higher yesterday supported by firmer futures prices on the Tokyo.....

BANGKOK: General Motors Co (GM) believes vehicle sales in Thailand could rise to more than 700,000 units this year as the economy proves resilient to recent political unrest and grows along with the rest of Southeast Asia. In 2009, Thai auto sales totalled 549,000 units, according to Toyota Thailand data. At the moment, GM has just 2.5 per cent of that market, way behind leader Toyota with 40 per cent. At a news conference in Bangkok, Martin Apfel, GM's presid (GM)ent for Southeast Asian operations, said GM aimed to "seek its fair share" of a regional market where aggressive expansion plans have been made and first-half sales by its Chevrolet rose 24 per.....

JAKARTA, Indonesia, July 29 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- AVEVA Group plc (LSE: AVV), one of the world's leading providers of engineering design and information management solutions to the plant, power and marine industries, announced that PT. Nippon Steel Construction Indonesia (NISCONI) has increased

Vietnam Records Highest Consumer Confidence Increase in Q2, Nielsen Surveyietnam soars up 9 spots to tie with Indonesia as the second most confident country in the world.

The stock opened at RM1.15, a 15 per cent premium over its initial public offering (IPO) price of RM1, but it gathered strength and closed for a 30 per cent premium at RM1.30 yesterday. In contrast, the broader market rose 2.96 points to close at 1355.19 points. Ivory, which has ongoing projects worth RM834.1 million, is the first property company to be listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia this year. Chairman and group chief executive officer Datuk Low Eng Hock said the next step is to form joint ventures in the Middle East and Indonesia for township and mixed-developments. He expects overseas markets to make up 30 per cent of its revenue in the next few years. Ivory is now 100 per cent focused in Penang. Still, it has plans to do mixed-development projects in.....

BANGKOK: Thai Union Frozen Products pcl, the owner of the "Chicken of the Sea" canned tuna brand, said yesterday it would buy MW Brands Holdings SAS for US$884 million (US$1 = RM3.19) to become the world's biggest seafood firm. TUF is already the world's largest canned tuna maker, while France-based MW has brands such as canned fish producer John West and canned tuna producer Petit Navire. "MWB's strong European footprint will provide us with further business opportunities in the future through a strong customer base, distribution and brand leadership," TUF president Thiraphong Chansiri said. MW was formerly part of HJ Heinz Co and is being sold by Trilantic Capital Partners, the former private-equity arm of Lehman Brothers,.....

JAKARTA: Indonesia Stock Exchange plans to woo foreign firms, in particular Australian miners, to list in Jakarta, by easing its listing regulations soon, a director said yesterday. The move could encourage a wide range of foreign companies to list their Indonesian units in Jakarta, making it easier for them to raise capital for expansion in Southeast Asia's biggest economy while broadening the market's appeal to investors. "We are preparing a new regulation to make it easier for foreign companies to list here. We hope it will be issued soon," said Wan Wei Yiong, a director of the exchange. "There are some foreign companies interested in listing here, from Malaysia, and mining firms from Australia". CIMB Group Holdings Berhad, the Malaysian financial services group in May said that it would seek a listing in