Semen Gresik expects substantial rise in profits

PT Semen Gresik was estimated profits to surge by 31.98 per cent to Rp500 billion (US$55.55m) in 2004, its Finance Director Cholil Hasan said.   Hasan attributed the increase to growing demand for cement on the domestic market in 2004.   He said its net income was estimated to reach Rp4.9 trillion down from Rp5.4 trillion in the previous year.   He also noted the company’s cement exports totaled 1.5Mt in 2004, up from 1.25Mt from the previous year.   "We set the target of cement production of 15Mt," he said.  

The production volume of Semen Gresik as of November 2004 had increased by 4.5 per cent to 1.05Mt from the same period of the previous year.   The sales volume of the East Java based cement-company as of November last year had increased by 11 per cent to 14.25Mt, thank to the increase of 12 per cent of the domestic market to 12.2Mt. Lower interest rates had begun to drive economic growth and in turn the demand of cement had increased in line with the higher demand of housing and business premises.