3 best Indonesia-focused stocks average 29% in YTD returns

Singapore

THE three top performing Indonesia-focused stocks on the local bourse have averaged 29 per cent year-to-date returns.

The Straits Times Index is down 3.94 per cent year-to-date.

That is based on data from Bloomberg and Singapore Exchange's StockFacts as at June 28.

Out of the two trusts and over 20 companies listed here that derive more than half their group revenues from Indonesia, the three biggest gainers are: Samurai 2K Aerosol (+60.2 per cent), Japfa (+22.8 per cent) and Moya Holdings (+3.3 per cent). These have a combined market capitalisation of S$1.59 billion.

Samurai 2K Aerosol, which specialises in high-performance coating solutions, reported a 426.9 per cent jump year-on-year in net attributable profit to RM11.7 million (S$3.9 million) for its full year ending March 31. Revenue rose 28.8 per cent to RM90 million.

Sales from the Indonesian market, which accounted for 65 per cent of group revenue, surged 223.6 per cent year-on-year to RM57.9 million for the year.

As for agri-food producer Japfa, it saw a 702.4 per cent jump in profit after tax of US$16.7 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 compared to the same period a year ago.

Revenue rose 14.9 per cent to US$845.5 million, driven by better sales volumes across its poultry division.

Moya Holdings, one of the largest water treatment companies in Indonesia, reported a net profit of S$8.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, which was up 548 per cent year-on-year.

Revenue jumped 268 per cent to S$45.1 million thanks to water sales from Acuatico Group which it had acquired recently.

Lower household spending, government expenditures and net exports caused Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP) to expand 5.06 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018, slower than the 5.19 per cent growth experienced in the fourth quarter of last year.

Investment growth continued, rising to 7.95 per cent in the first quarter versus 7.27 per cent in the quarter before.

SGX said in its market update on June 29 that the country has risen interest rates twice in the last six weeks to defend its rupiah currency due to a selloff in emerging market assets from the trade tensions between US and China.

"The country's longer-term outlook, however, remains steady," said SGX. "S&P Global Ratings in May affirmed Indonesia's BBB-/A-3 sovereign credit ratings with a stable outlook, citing expectations that a recovery in commodity prices and improving infrastructure will boost its economy over the next three to four years."