Jaya Ancol to pump Rp 350 billion into investment projects

Andi Haswidi, The Jakarta Post - 2006-11-22 17:18

Jakarta, November 22, 2006 (The Jakarta Post) - Arguably the biggest theme-park operator by assets in Southeast Asia, PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol plans to pump Rp 350 billion (about US$39,000) into new property and theme-park projects during the course of 2007.

"There is still a market niche that needs developing," the company's president director, Budi Karya Sumadi, told an investor forum Tuesday at the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX).

Budi said that around Rp 200 billion would be invested in the company's property business within the Ancol Jakarta Bay City, while the remaining Rp 150 billion would go on procuring new attractions for the Dunia Fantasi amusement park, buying a Beluga white whale for its water park, revitalizing the Atlantis swimming pool and improving Ancol beach.

Ancol Jakarta Bay City is a 552-hectare leisure complex that includes amusement parks, a golf course, a beach pool, clubs, hotels, townhouses and marina bay.

Budi said that around Rp 200 million of the proposed investment would be sourced from the company's retained earnings while a number of financing options were being considered for the remainder.

"We have two options; it's either through issuing bonds or launching a rights issue that could increase the number of company shares by between 10 and 15 percent," he explained.

Budi said that the second quarter of next year would be the right time to decide on the financing options as part of the development project would already have commenced by that stage.

According to company figures, Pembangunan Jaya Ancol books an average revenue increase of between 10 and 15 percent each year. Total revenues are expected to increase to Rp 670 billion this year, up from Rp 617.9 billion in 2005 and Rp 542.8 billion in 2004.

The company is 72 percent owned by the Jakarta provincial administration, 18 percent by PT Pembangunan Jaya and 10 percent by retail investors after a stake in the firm was sold to the public in 2004.

The firm, which was listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) in late 2004, registered net income of about Rp 124.5 billion last year, up from Rp 110.6 billion in 2004 and Rp 105 billion in 2003.

"The growth in our visitor numbers has been consistently steady despite lower purchasing power at the present time. We even managed to achieve growth during the 1998 crisis," Budi said.

He stressed that continuous innovation and new investment was the key to the firm's steady growth during its three decades in existence, adding that the company intended to develop the Ancol area into a major culinary-vacation destination for the upper-income-bracket market.