Indocement H1 net profit increases, Indonesia
Indonesia’s No.2 cement maker, PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa Tbk, reported on Monday an 11.5 per cent rise in first-half net profit, despite weaker overall industry sales volumes. Indocement, controlled by HeidelbergCement , said net profit rose to 342.98 billion rupiah ($37.74m) from 307.62 billion in the same six-month period a year ago. Revenue at Indocement climbed 20.7 percent to 3.06 trillion rupiah, it said in a statement published in newspapers.
Domestic cement sales from all makers in Indonesia fell 3.3 per cent in the January-June period this year to 14.55Mt, partly due to a cooling of the economy after a government move to crank up fuel prices last year.
The firm, which has the country’s single largest cement plant, said operating profit rose 14.05 percent to 628.84 billion, although operating margins slipped to 20.5 per cent from 21.7 per cent on higher delivery and selling expenses. Indocement has the capacity to produce around 16.5Mta.
Indonesia consumed 31.5Mt of the building material last year, up 4.9 per cent from 30.4Mt a year before but falling short of analysts’ expectations for a 7-8 per cent increase. This year, some expect cement sales to be flat or even slightly lower as the economy struggles with the impact of high inflation and interest rates.
Published under Cement News
