Indocement reduce net gearing ratio

The Management of PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa Tbk (Indocement) is trying to reduce its debt to equity ratio (net gearing ratio) by paying some debts in stages.  Thomas Kern, the finance director of Indocement, said that by December of 2003 the debt of the company reached US$625m. "With the total debt of US$625m, the present net gearing ratio of the company is 1.02 times, meaning that the total debt of the company is more or less as same as the equity of the company," he said in a public expose yesterday.  He said that the outstanding debt of the company in detail is US$276.7m, JPY35.4 billion and IDR140.2 billion. He added that the company will pay some US$16.25m debt every three months.

Commenting on the cement market he predicted that the domestic cement market will be flat this year. The company, he said, plans to maintain the capital expenditure of IDR120 billion to IDR150 billion this year. He added that the company does not have any plan to conduct any expansion this year. Kern added that the company will just maintain the market shares of last year, but it will not be able to increase it.

Daniel Lavalle, the President Director of Indocement, also said that the domestic demand on cement will flat this year, especially due to the parliamentary as well as presidential election this year. He added that even in 2005 and 2006 the demand of cement will not increase significantly.