Indocement 1H Net Profit IDR360.15B Vs IDR342.98B
PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa (INTP.JK) booked IDR360.15bn in net profit during the first half of the year, up 5% from IDR342.98bn in the same period last year, it said Thursday.
First-half revenue inched up 3.1% to IDR3.16 trillion from IDR3.06 trillion a year before, as cement demand at its main market of Java remained weak, Indocement said.
Its first-half results were not audited, it said.
Cement sales volume rose 6% to 6.5 million metric tons for the January-June period from the same period last year.
"Even though domestic cement consumption grew by 7.8% (on year for the first half of 2007), cement consumption in the company’s core market, i.e. Jakarta, West Java and Banten still suffered from negative growth," Indocement said.
The company has started to sell more to areas outside its main markets in Jakarta and West Java. The move, however, caused a significant increase in delivery and selling expenses. Income from operations declined 7.7% to IDR580.3 billion from IDR628.8 billion in the previous year, it said.
President Director Daniel Lavelle expects cement consumption in Indonesia to grow 5% in 2007. He predicts that growth in the second half won’t be as strong as the first.
Indocement recently closed a transaction to acquire a 51% stake in PT Gunung Tua Mandiri, a newly developed andesite or crushed stone quarry in Rumpin, West Java. The capacity production of Gunung Tua is 1.5 tons of andesite per year with the reserves of 30 million tons. The company expects to start commercial production in September 2007.
"The expansion of new business line in aggregates quarry will strengthen our position in building materials supply, especially to anticipate the upcoming infrastructure projects planned to start soon in Indonesia", Lavalle added.
Published under Cement News
