Gajah Tunggal releases latest sales, performance figures

Despite higher sales, PT Gajah Tunggal Tbk reports its net profit for the first quarter of 2012 was down 23.5 per cent year-on-year. During the three months to 31 March 2012 the Indonesian tyre maker made sales of Rp 3,146 billion (£210.0 million), up 8.63 per cent on a year earlier. Gross profit amounted to Rp 558 billion (£37.2 million), while net profit came to Rp 254 billion (£17.0 million), down from Rp 332 billion a year earlier. EBITDA increased from Rp 380 billion to 497 billion (£33.2 million).

In further company news, a document the tyre maker released for its 2012 investor day shares that radial tyre production accounts for 36 per cent of Gajah Tunggal’s total business, making it the largest single business segment. During the first quarter, radial tyre sales amounted to Rp 1,144 billion (£76.3 million); the company produced 45,000 radials per day, operating at 67 per cent of total capacity. Cross-ply tyres accounted for 34 per cent of Gajah Tunggal’s business, with this segment earning the firm Rp 1,060 billion (£70.8 million) during the first quarter; an average of 13,600 cross-ply tyres were manufactured daily during the reporting period, with factories operating at 91 per cent of capacity. Two-wheeler sales reached Rp 684 billion (£45.7 million) and accounted for 22 per cent of total business in Q1; an average of 90,000 tyres per day were manufactured during the quarter, with plants operating at 66 per cent of full capacity. The company’s two non-tyre segments, synthetic rubber and tyre cord, respectively accounted for five per cent and three per cent of total business. At present Gajah Tunggal produces 72,000 tons of synthetic rubber and 36,000 tons of tyre cord per annum.

Reporting on the Indonesian replacement market, Gajah Tunggal states that it held a 21 per cent share of the domestic replacement radial market, a proportion unchanged from 2010. Last year the tyre maker was the number three player in this segment, behind Bridgestone (35 per cent) and Dunlop (31 per cent), but well above the fourth largest segment shareholder Vredestein (eight per cent). Gajah Tunggal was the undisputed king of the cross-ply tyre market, holding a 50 per cent market share in 2011. This was admittedly two percentage points down on its 2010 share, but still considerably larger than the number two player, Bridgestone, who held 18 per cent of Indonesia’s cross-ply replacement market. Gajah Tunggal also ruled the two-wheeler tyre replacement market, with a 52 per cent market share. Again, the tyre maker lost ground on 2010, having ceded four percentage points, however its share of the two-wheeler market was double that of its next-ranked rival, Federal, whose market share rose five percentage points to 21 per cent.

Last year, almost half of all company exports ended up in the Americas, with the region accounting for 47 per cent of Gajah Tunggal’s Rp 4,350 billion (£290.4 million) total exports. Europe received 21 per cent of all exports, while the Middle East and Asia took 13 and 12 per cent respectively.