Indonesia's Indofood H1 net profit up 37 pct y/y

JAKARTA, Aug 30 (Reuters) - PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk (INDF.JK), the world's largest instant noodle maker, reported a 37 percent rise in first-half net profit on Thursday, after a significant reduction in net interest expenses.

Indofood, controlled by Indonesia's Salim family through Hong Kong-listed First Pacific Ltd (0142.HK), said its net profit rose to 367.18 billion rupiah ($39 million) in January through June, up from 267.77 billion a year ago.

Sales climbed 21 percent to 12.3 trillion rupiah, while operating profit increased 6.9 percent to 994.03 billion.

"The rest of 2007 will continue to be challenging as raw material prices, particularly wheat, show no sign of softening," said Anthoni Salim, Indofood's chief executive officer, in a statement.

"We will continue to be vigilant in controlling our operating costs, increasing our operating efficiency as well as enhancing our marketing and distribution strategies," he added.

Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates had expected Indofood's net profit to reach 762.66 billion rupiah this year, on sales of 25.22 trillion.

Indofood, which has a market capitalisation of $1.9 billion, said previously it is aiming for a 6 percent increase in noodle sales volumes, from 11.82 billion packs in 2006.

It is also planning to boost its annual capacity to 14.5 billion packs from 13.5 billion.

Indonesians consume an average of 57 packs of instant noodles a year, putting the world's fourth-most populous nation of 220 million people behind South Korea, where average per capita consumption is about 70 packs.

Indofood's share price has risen around 37 percent since the start of the year to 1,850 rupiah at Wednesday's close, beating an 18 percent rise in the Jakarta Composite Index .JKSE.

At Wednesday's closing price, Indofood shares traded at 16.5 times 2008 forecast earnings, compared with 13.6 times for the Jakarta stock market.

($1=9,420 rupiah)

((Reporting by Harry Suhartono and Nury Sybli, editing by Sara Webb and David Holmes; harry.suhartono@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: harry.suhartono.reuters.com@reuters.net; +62 21 384 6364 ext 905)) Keywords: INDOFOOD INDONESIA/

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