Briefs

Despite sluggish growth in the housing |market, local cement manufacturers still can expect to book profits next year, mainly driven by the government’s massive infrastructure projects, an analyst has suggested.
“They [cement producers] will still be able to survive and generate profits although their [sales] growth will likely slow down,” Satrio Utomo, the head of research at Universal Broker Indonesia, said as quoted by kontan.co.id on Monday evening. 
The expected increase in oil prices will |be another risk, as it will affect the price of |electricity, which is a vital factor in the cement-making process, Satrio said.
In the first 10 months of 2016, state-run cement maker Semen Indonesia recorded 21.2 million tonnes of sales, only 1.3 per cent higher than the same period last year. Meanwhile, publicly-listed cement producer Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa saw its sales drop by 3.6 per cent to 13.2 million tonnes. Holcim Indonesia’s sales also decreased by 10.6 per cent to 6.2 million tonnes. –The Jakarta Post

VN’s tax authority promotes
national online tax refund 
Vietnam’s General Department of Taxation is hastening the implementation of online tax refunds on a national scale, a part of the tax reform effort, to create favourable conditions for businesses.
This is a critical issue as tax reimbursement procedures remained burdensome to firms while the country was striving to improve the business climate following the Government’s Resolution 19.
A pilot implementation of online tax refunds was underway in 13 provinces and cities, which was expected to be expanded nationwide within the first quarter of next year.
The tax authorities targeted that at least 90 per cent of filings for tax refunds would be conducted online.
Firms would not have to travel back and forward between tax departments, Le Thi Duyen Hi, deputy director of the Department for Tax Declaration and Accounting, said, adding that it would help save time and effort as well as reducing difficulties in tax reimbursement.|—Viet Nam News

2 show strong performance 
on Indonesian stock debut 
Indonesia’s newly-listed firms Bintang Oto Global and Sillo Maritime Perdana have stood out among 15 companies that launched initial public offerings (IPO) this year, as they have seen their respective share price double in a |relatively short time.
Bintang Oto Global listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on December 19 with an initial share price of Rp100 (7 US cents, Bt2.52) a piece and saw this jump 250 per cent to Rp354 a piece during Tuesday’s trade opening.
According to company’s financial report, 90 per cent of its revenue is derived from car dealerships that sell the Honda brand, while the remaining 10 per cent is from auto services and car rental. As of June, the company had seen its revenue increase by 25.5 per cent year-on-year to Rp224.48 billion, while net income skyrocketed 2.8 fold to Rp4.69 billion.
After the IPO, the company immediately acquired 50.84 per cent of PT Suasa Benua Sukses, a shipping company based in Jakarta. On December 7, according to the corporate disclosure, Suasa Benua Sukses secured a new contract worth $9.04 million from PetroChina, which will rent Sillo’s fleet for three years. – The Jakarta Post

Bank Negara Malaysia 
initiates actions under FSA
Bank Negara Malaysia has reminded all financial institutions to observe reporting obligations imposed under the Financial Services Act 2013 (FSA), in particular the requirement to promptly notify the bank of any significant findings.
“The bank has initiated enforcement actions under the FSA against a financial institution for failure to promptly notify the bank of a significant audit finding in relation to its dealers’ misconduct involving the fixing of the USD/MYR exchange rate.
“The finding indicates that there were communications with traders from other foreign financial institutions which included inappropriate references to the fixing rate submission process. In this regard, the Bank has commenced the due process as stipulated under the FSA,” Bank Negara said in a statement |yesterday. – The Star