Tobacco Producer HM Sampoerna Posts 23.32 Percent Growth in Net Profit
PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna Tbk (HM Sampoerna), Indonesia's largest tobacco company, posted a 23.32 percent increase in net profit to IDR 9.95 trillion (US $1.03 billion) in 2012. Net profit per share increased to IDR 2,269 from a previous IDR 1,840 per share. Based on a financial report that was published on Friday (15/03/2013), the company's growth in net profit was largely due to a 26.05 percent increase in sales to IDR 66.63 trillion (US $6.90 billion).
Sampoerna's net profit margin, however, fell 2.16 percent to 14.93 percent. Cost of goods sold (COGS) was reported to have increased 27.8 percent to IDR 48.12 trillion (US $4.99 billion).
Sampoerna, which controls about 29 percent of the Indonesian tobacco market, is a leading tobacco producer in Indonesia. It produces some of the most famous kretek (clove) cigarette brands, such as Sampoerna Hijau, Sampoerna A Mild, and the legendary “King of Kretek” Dji Sam Soe. In 2005, the company was acquired by Philip Morris International, thereby becoming part of one of the world’s largest tobacco companies. Today, Sampoerna also distributes Marlboro, the world’s best-selling cigarette brand, on Indonesia's domestic market.
In February it was reported that Sampoerna overtook Astra International as the largest Indonesian company in terms of market capitalization on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IHSG).
The value of HM Sampoerna's shares have gained significantly in the last one and a half years. Indonesian men, two-thirds of which smoke (in particular the kretek-type clove cigarettes), are known as the world's top smokers. The percentage of women that smoke in Indonesia is still small (approximately five percent) as it is considered negative for a woman to smoke. Recently, however, there has been a large increase in female smokers among the country's middle class in urban areas.