Sampoerna Overtakes Astra as Company with the Greatest Market Capitalization
For a long time, Astra International, one of Indonesia's largest diversified conglomerates and present in almost every sector of the country's economy, was the leading company regarding the highest market capitalization on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IHSG). Now, however, Astra has been overtaken by HM Sampoerna, Indonesia's largest tobacco company that controls 30 percent of the Indonesian tobacco market and is majority-owned by Philip Morris.
HM Sampoerna's total market capitalization reached the level of IDR 317.8 trillion (US $33.0 billion) last week, thus accounting for 7.2 percent of total market capitalization of all companies that are listed on the IHSG. Astra International, slipped to second place with IDR 313.7 trillion (US $32.5 billion) in market capitalization, or similar to 7.1 percent of the market total. Indonesia's 463 listed companies together have a market capitalization of IDR 4,455 trillion (US $461.7 billion).
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 small (about five percent) as it is still considered negative for a woman to be seen holding a cigarette. Recently, however, there has been a large increase in female smokers among the country's middle class in urban areas. Indonesia's total population is currently about 240 million.