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Tag: Astra

  • Astra Sets Up Joint Venture With Hong Kong’s WeLab to Provide Loans to Indonesians

    Astra Sets Up Joint Venture With Hong Kong’s WeLab to Provide Loans to Indonesians

    Diversified Indonesian conglomerate Astra International has established a joint venture with Hong Kong-based technology company WeLab to provide financial products and loans to unbanked people, the company announced on Thursday (06/09).

    “We hope to expand our digital portfolio, while we also aim to further encourage financial inclusion in Indonesia. We continue to seek partners with the industry’s leading companies. We believe WeLab is at the forefront of fintech innovation.

    Through this partnership, we want to offer innovative solutions to provide benefits to consumers throughout Indonesia,” Astra International director Suparno Djasmin said in a statement.

    Astra subsidiary Sedaya Multi Investama and WeLab established a joint venture, Astra WeLab Digital Arta (AWDA), to give unbanked people access to loans.

    The joint venture, which uses big data analysis to better assess customers’ financial profiles, will offer loan products for retail consumers that can be accessed by smartphone, while also providing financial solutions to corporate customers.

    AWDA will launch its mobile application, Maucash, in the third quarter of this year to allow customers to apply for loans anytime and anywhere.

    The new entity sees massive potential in Indonesia’s fintech industry and seeks to capture the untapped potential.

    Supported by rapid growth in the adoption of smartphones, Indonesia recorded a 7.9 percent year-on-year increase in the number of internet users to 143.26 million last year, according to the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII).

    An APJII survey showed that about 44.16 percent of respondents use smartphones to access the internet, while 30.28 percent do so with both computers and mobile phones and the remainder use computers only.

    “We believe our advanced technology, combined with Astra’s operational experience in the Indonesian market, can provide new experiences for consumers in Indonesia,” said Simon Loong, WeLab founder and chief executive.

    WeLab, founded in 2013, operates Woalaidai, one of the largest mobile credit delivery platforms in China. It also operates WeLend, an online loan platform in Hong Kong.

    The company also partners with traditional financial institutions that utilize WeLab technology to offer fintech-based solutions to their customers.

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  • Astra named best Indonesian company of past decades

    Astra named best Indonesian company of past decades

    PT Astra International has added one more award to its collection after Hong Kong-based magazine FinanceAsia named the widely diversified business group the best non-financial company in Indonesia for the past two decades.

    The magazine’s publisher, Jonathan Hirst, presented the award to Astra International president director Prijono Sugiarto at a ceremony in Hong Kong on Thursday evening.

    The award was based on polls conducted annually on the company’s performance over the past 20 years. As many as 115 financial and non-financial companies in Asia received such awards this year.

    Other large corporations named as best non-financial companies in their respective countries include Samsung Electronics of South Korea, China Telecom of China, PTT of Thailand and SingTel of Singapore.

    Meanwhile, in the Indonesian financial sector, five companies won similar awards. They include Bank Mandiri, which was named the best domestic bank, Mandiri Sekuritas as the best domestic investment bank and as the best domestic bond house, Danareksa Sekuritas as the best domestic equity house, HSBC as the best foreign bank and Credit Suisse as the best foreign investment bank.

    “On behalf of the Astra management, we thank all the stakeholders who have participated in the survey for their support for Astra during its 59 years of operations,” Prijono said after receiving the award.

    “Obviously, we hope that this achievement also brings pride to the Indonesian people, “ he added.

    According Prijono, as a national asset, Astra wants to continue to contribute to economic and social development for the Indonesian people through its 202 subsidiaries and affiliated companies, which employed more than 200,000 people. The business group was working with at least 2,500 vendors employing more than one million employees, he said.

    Astra is engaged in six business lines, namely automotive, financial services, heavy equipment and mining, agribusiness, infrastructure, logistics and IT.

    Astra was listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange in April 1990 and has become a blue chip stock with a market capitalization of about Rp 337 trillion (US$25.8 billion) as of Oct. 12.

    FinanceAsia has presented awards to leading Asian companies every year since its establishment 20 years ago. Winners are determined by surveys among investors and analysts in Asia on a range of criteria, such as corporate performance, corporate governance, investor relations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and leadership.

    Astra has received at least 13 awards from the magazine, in addition to numerous awards from other organizations. Unlike in previous years, this year’s award was given for the achievement over a 20-year period.

    In 2010, Astra management under the leadership of Prijono adopted a comprehensive business strategy it calls the Triple P Roadmap, according to which the company’s portfolio, people and public contribution should all ensure sustainable growth.

    Prijono attributed the success of the business group in maintaining sustainable growth to the company’s long-term business concept.

    Based on that concept, Astra had implemented concrete programs that clearly highlight the position of Astra in the long-term, including by creating new opportunities to diversify sources of revenue, to improve the competency of human resources and to expand the reach of the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.

    Prijono explained that Astra carried out CSR activities through all of its subsidiaries and nine foundations, which include the foundation of Toyota and Astra, the foundation of Dharma Bhakti Astra, the foundation of Astra Bina Science, the foundation of Astra Honda Motor, the foundation of Amaliah Astra, the educational foundation of Michael D. Ruslim, the foundation of Karya Bhakti UT, the foundation of Astra Agro Lestari and the foundation of Insan Mulia Pama.

  • Astra doubts car sales would increase

    Astra doubts car sales would increase

    The country’s largest car manufacturer, PT Astra Internasional, expresses doubt that sales of automotive products would increase in 2016.

    Car and motorcycle sales would not increase under the economic slowdown, Astra’s investor relation officer, Ira Ardianti, said here on Monday night.

    Sales of both two and four wheeled motor vehicles have been flat in the past five months, she cited. The people’s purchasing power is still weak and have no fund to spare for luxury, she said.

    Sales of motorcycles dropped in the regions mainly because of the commodity price fall such as palm oil and rubber prices, Ardianti said.

    In the first quarter of 2016, Astra’s car sales dropped to 127,000 units from 137,000 units in the same period last year. In April and May, Astra’s sales of cars totaled 31,000 units and 33,000 units respectively.

    Its sales of motorcycles also shrank to 1.1 million units in the first quarter of 2016. In April and May sales were recorded at 348,000 units and 338,000 units respectively.

    “We could not make prediction , but hopefully the economy would improve and the people’s purchasing power would be stronger,” she said.

    The Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo), however, said car sales in Indonesia (from factories to dealers) surged 11 percent to 87,919 units in May 2016, the second straight month of rising car sales year-on-year.

    Gaikindo chairman Jongkie Sugiarto attributed the increase mainly to delivery of new models ahead of Idul Fitri holiday.

    In April car sales in Indonesia grew 4.6 percent to 84,703 units from 81,000 units in the same month last year.

    This is encouraging after being on the decline for 16 straight months previously.

    Stakeholders in the automotive industry hope that this is the start of a rebound, in line with accelerating economic growth.

    In the first quarter of 2016 Indonesias economic growth accelerated to a growth pace of 4.92 percent yoy), higher than the 4.73 percent GDP growth pace in the same quarter last year.

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  • Astra car sales down 2.7 percent to 208,804 units in Q1

    Astra car sales down 2.7 percent to 208,804 units in Q1

    The countrys largest automotive company PT Astra International recorded a 2.7 percent decline year-on-year in car sales to 208,804 units in the first four months of the year.

    Based on data at the Indonesian Association of Motor Vehicle Industries (Gaikindo), Low Cost Green Cars (LCGC) contributed 34,209 units to the total sales by Astra Group.

    The sales in the first four month, however, was on the rise from 47,159 units in January to 49,933 units in February, to 54,508 units in March and to 57,204 units in April.

    The Astra group produces and sells Toyota, Daihatsu, Isuzu, Peugeot cars and UD Trucks. Sales have continued to be dominated by Toyota with sales reaching 111,710 units in the January-April period.

    Peugeot sales were the lowest in number reaching only 14 units. Sales of Daihatsu cars totaled 56,854 units, Isuzu 5,490 units, and UD Trucks 527 units.

    Sales of motorcycles produced by PT Astra Honda Motor (AHM) reached 1,439,241 units, down 13.5 percent from 1,664,395 units in the same period last year.

    Sales of non Astra cars in the first four months of the year totaled 177,316 units down 1.67 percent from 180,340 units in the same period last year.

    Sales of non Astra motorcycles totaled 543,263 units.

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  • Bridgestone to establish auto parts JV in Indonesia

    Bridgestone to establish auto parts JV in Indonesia

    Bridgestone Corp. plans to establish a joint venture company to produce anti-vibration rubber products for automotive vehicles in Indonesia.

    The agreement was concluded on July 2 with PT Astra Otoparts Tbk, which manufactures and sells automotive parts in Indonesia.

    The JV is to build a manufacturing plant of anti-vibration rubber products, which is set to start operations in January 2016, according to a Bridgestone statement. The total amount of the investment by Bridgestone and Astra Otoparts will be $13 million.

    Bridgestone has seven facilities in five countries to manufacture automotive anti-vibration components. To achieve further global expansion, the firm said it needed a manufacturing base in Indonesia, a major car making state in the ASEAN region.

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