News

Updates shares and add analyst comment

JAKARTA, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Shares of Indonesia's largest tech firm PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk GOTO.JK fell on Wednesday by as much as 6.8%, a day after it reported heavy interim losses and warned of a volatile market outlook.

The company, which went public in April with a $1.1 billion stock sale, is seeking to raise a fresh $1 billion in the debt market, Reuters reported on Tuesday, as deepening losses threaten to stretch its financial health.

GoTo, formed last year by the merger of ride-hailing-to-payments firm Gojek and e-commerce leader Tokopedia, said on Tuesday its half-year net loss more than doubled to nearly $1 billion.

"We need to pay attention to the firm’s (cash) burn rate and how long it will continue," said Maximilianus Nico Demus, an analyst at brokerage firm PT Pilarmas Investindo Sekuritas, adding revenue growth was strong but the pace of increases in marketing costs was faster.

Shares in GoTo fell to as low as 302 rupiah and were last down 6.2% at 304 rupiah. The company, backed by the likes of SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T, Alibaba Group 9988.HK and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, has lost around 10% of its value since its initial public offering in April.

(Reporting by Ananda Teresia and Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by Tom Hogue and Edwina Gibbs)

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.