Jakarta, Aug 29 - Indonesia's PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk , the world's largest instant noodle maker, reported on Friday its first-half net profit more than doubled from a year ago, boosted by its plantation business.
The company, controlled by Indonesia's Salim family through Hong Kong-listed First Pacific Ltd , said January-June net profit was 827.45 billion rupiah, compared with 367.18 billion rupiah a year ago, and beating analysts' forecasts of 789.3 billion rupiah, according to Reuters Estimates.
Indofood Chief Executive Anthoni Salim said although rising commodity prices had helped the company in the first half, rising inflation in Indonesia dampened the performance of its food and instant noodle businesses.
"The high inflationary environment resulting from high commodity and prices in the first half of 2008 has affected the consumer purchasing power especially in the lower end segment," Salim said.
Rising oil prices forced the Indonesian government to increase the price of subsidised fuel in late May and pushed up inflation to nearly 12 percent in July.
Sales revenue in the first six months of 2008 jumped 53.8 percent to 18.92 trillion rupiah ($2.07 billion), beating the 18.03 trillion rupiah forecast by Reuters Estimates.
The company, which also controls one of the top plantation firms in the country, PT Perusahaan Perkebunan London Sumatra Indonesia Tbk , benefited from rising palm oil prices in the first six months of 2008.
Indofood controls two of the world's largest flour millers through its unit, Bogasari Flour Mills.
Indofood said Bogasari recorded 42.3 percent growth in total sales while its agribusiness division, which includes plantations, saw a 137.4 percent jump in sales.
Its traditional food business, which includes instant noodles, saw a 30.3 percent rise in total sales revenue.
Palm oil prices jumped nearly 18 percent in the January-June period, trailing the rise in crude oil prices.
Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, is among the world's biggest consumers of instant noodles, getting through an average of 60 packs per person a year.
About 92 billion packs of instant noodles were consumed in the world in 2006 including about 47 billion in China, 14 billion in Indonesia, 14 billion in the United States, and 5.4 billion in Japan, according to industry figures.
Indofood aims to control production costs in the face of rising fuel prices but plans to maintain production at last year's levels, officials have said.
Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates expect Indofood, which has a market capitalisation of $2 billion, to post a net profit of 1.5 trillion rupiah ($164 million) this year, up from 980.4 billion in 2007.