Waiting the Danantara
President Prabowo Subianto is expected to return home in the coming days after more than two weeks of overseas travel to, among others, attending APEC and G20 summits. Let’s see whether Prabowo will immediately launch the new super agency called BP Danantara, which will initially manage seven big state companies.
A weak rupiah
So, the central bank (Bank Indonesia) has decided to keep its benchmark rate unchanged arguably to support rupiah, which depreciated against the greenback. At the current state of commodities (export and import), actually a weaker rupiah is good news for most.
Peter Sondakh: Not out of the woods yet
Shares of Archi Indonesia (ARCI), a gold miner controlled by Peter Sondakh’s Rajawali Corpora, ended flat at Rp268 to make a market capitalisation of Rp6.66 trillion. The stock moved away from prediction of some analysts early this year, who were mostly bullish on high gold price environment.
The Troubled Investree
Peer-to-peer lending platform (P2P lender), Investree, was ambitious to help strengthen the Indonesian economy by providing financial assistance to SMEs, especially those affected by COVID-19. This ambition is what makes them get a series of funding even in the midst of a pandemic. However, the impact of COVID-19 lasted longer than the prediction and the condition of the company was also affected although not completely. Throughout 2023, there were two lawsuits filed against the company and entering the third month of 2024, three lawsuits have been filed and the lawsuits and similar lawsuits against the company are growing in number. Too bad, nothing seems to be improving that the company’s license was finally revoked in October 2024. Within less than two years, there were 15 tort and default lawsuits filed to the South Jakarta District Court against Investree and the latest was registered in Nov. 4, 2024.
Further correction of Chandra Asri
Shares of Chandra Asri (TPIA), the largest petrochemical company in Indonesia, ended further down by 2.2% to Rp6,575 on Tuesday (Nov 19) despite reports that acquisition of Shell Energy and Chemicals Park (SECP) is getting closer to completion.
More broken promises
Pretty much in contrast to the campaign rhetorics, the administration of Prabowo will implement a raise in the value added tax (VAT) from 11% to 12% starting January 1st, 2025. That’s not the first. Teachers across the nation should now forget whatever Hashim Djojohadikusumo, brother of Prabowo, promised during the presidential election campaign.
Waiting the EXCL-FREN merger
Shares of XL Axiata (EXCL), third largest player in the telco industry, ended slightly higher by 0.47% to Rp2,150 on Monday (Nov 18) to make a market capitalisation of Rp28.2 trillion, slightly above equity (Rp25.7 trillion). SmartFren Telecom (FREN), meanwhile, ended flat at Rp26 to make a market cap of Rp12.4 trillion.
The curious case of MNC Networks (IPTV)
MNC Group, controlled by businessman cum politician Hary Tanoesoedibjo, launched initial public offering (IPO) of MNC Networks (IPTV) five years ago at Rp240 per share to raise Rp845.3 billion. It was valued Rp8.4 trillion or so. On Monday (Nov 18), the stock was traded at Rp25 to make a market value of Rp1.1 trillion only, losing 90% from IPO.
LinkNet: From bad to worse
As if Rp282.3 billion losses in the first half was not bad enough, Link Net (LINK), a fixed broadband operator controlled by Axiata Group, reported net loss of Rp801.5 billion in the first nine months of 2024 from its continuing operations following internal restructuring.
Reality Check on Data Center
Shares of Data Center Indonesia (DCII) ended flat at Rp40,600 last Friday (Nov 15), maintaining its status as one of the most expensive stocks in the market. At the last quoted price, DCII was traded with PE multiple 161 on annualised earnings in the first nine months of 2024.