Indocement sees profit up 78%
PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa Tbk, a unit of HeidelbergCement, expects sales to drop for the first time in six years as the local economy slows.
The unit of Germany’s HeidelbergCement AG forecasts that Indonesian cement consumption could decline six per cent this year, after growing by 2.5 per cent in 2008, finance director Christian Kartawijaya said. The company last year sold 12.3Mt of cement in Indonesia.
A drop in sales volumes and a 6.1 per cent depreciation of the rupiah may affect profitability at the nation’s second-largest cement maker, which on Friday reported a net profit of IDR1.75trn (US$148.75m) in 2008, a 78 per cent rise compared with IDR980bn a year earlier, boosted by higher earnings. The company also said it is delaying by six months a US$35m expansion plan to avoid adding new supply.
Published under Cement News
