Indonesia's Indosat says unaudited Q1 net hit by FX
JAKARTA, April 22 (Reuters) - Indonesia's second-largest mobile phone operator, PT Indosat Tbk (ISAT.JK), reported on Wednesday an 82.4 percent drop in its unaudited net profit for the first quarter, hit by the rupiah currency's fall against the dollar. Indosat, which is majority controlled by Qatar Telecommunications Co QTEL.QA, said its unaudited net profit was 107.9 billion rupiah ($9.95 million), while its operating revenue rose 5.3 percent to 4.5 trillion rupiah from a year ago.
"The decline in net income, largely as a result of the depreciation of the Indonesian rupiah to the U.S. dollar, highlights the effects of current market volatility," Johnny Swandi Sjam, Indosat's president director, said in a statement.
The company is due to announce audited results in mid May.
The rupiah IDR= was down around 5 percent against the dollar as of March 31, the fourth-worst performing currency in Asia, as concerns about the health of the global financial system and growing economic gloom haunted investors.
However, the rupiah has been hovering below 11,000 per dollar in the past week, gaining 1.48 percent against the dollar so far this year, lifted by results from parliamentary elections on April 9, which shows the president's party won the most votes.
Indosat is Indonesia's second-largest mobile phone in terms of market share after PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel), 65 percent owned by PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (TLKM.JK) and 35 percent controlled by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (STEL.SI).
The firm had 33.3 million cellular subscribers as of March 31, up 26 percent from a year ago.
Indosat's shares ended down 0.92 percent on Wednesday, almost in line with a 0.84 percent fall in the broader market .JKSE. ($1 = 10,845 rupiah) (Reporting by Tyagita Silka; Editing by Ed Davies)
