Cement producer PT Semen Padang has completed its 2004 audited financial statement, paving the way for its parent company, publicly listed PT Semen Gresik, to issue the latter’s consolidated account soon.

Semen Padang’s chief financial officer, Endang Irzal said that although the West Sumatra-based company missed its March end deadline by a few weeks, it was a vast improvement from the 2002 and 2003 statements that took until last October to be completed.

"Semen Gresik should be able to complete its consolidated financial statements in a few weeks," said Irzal, whose firm in 2003, accounted for roughly 25 per cent of its parent company’s Rp 6.5bn assets.

The report showed that Semen Padang booked sales of Rp 1.78trn (US$ 187m), a 12.6 per cent increase from 2003, resulting in a net profit of Rp 76.9bn, more than tripling last year’s Rp 25.2bn.

Turning to this year, Irzal said the company targeted Rp 2.2trn in sales, which should result in a net profit of between Rp 90bn and Rp 100bn.

However, he emphasized that this year’s target could only be met if the company received approval for the restructuring of its short-term loans worth Rp 450bn.

Semen Padang would also spend Rp 135bn on capital expenditure this year, partially to upgrade its plant, so that it could produce at its full design capacity of 5.3Mta.

Semen Padang produced an average of 5Mta of cement  from
2000 to 2002, but only produced roughly 4.6Mta in 2003 and 2004 due to poor maintenance of its plant and mine, stemming from an internal management conflict.

Semen Gresik, Semen Padang’s parent company, as a group has the capacity to produce nearly 16Mta, one third of the country’s cement producing capability.

"The repair of the plant equipment is almost complete," said Irzal, who joined the company’s new management team in late 2003.

He also said that the company was fully cooperating in respect to the ongoing special audit on the company’s 2002 and 2003 performance, as mandated by Semen Gresik’s shareholders in June last year.

He said the reason for conducting the special audit was fully understandable as the old management had not presented routine reports to Semen Gresik for nearly two years, in contrast with the current management’s practice of reporting each month.

The internal management conflict, which came to an end in September 2003, originated from the government’s decision to divest part of their holdings in Semen Gresik to Mexico-based Cemex in 1998.

Cemex owns 25.53 per cent of Semen Gresik, while the Indonesian government and the public own 51.01 percent and 23.46 respectively.

Published under Cement News