Chile’s Cementos Bio Bio posted a 24.4bn-peso (US$41.4m) consolidated net profit in 2004, up 18.7 per cent from the previous year, the cement maker reported to the country’s securities regulator (SVS).   The results were due to a 5.2 per cent increase in cement shipments, while the industry as a whole grew 4.8 per cent. Other factors that helped increase net profit included a 23.4 per cent jump in concrete shipments due to increased requirements from mining companies in the country’s north, and a 31.7 per cent growth in lime shipments due to large infrastructure works in the Metropolitan Region.  The Briones, Rozas and Stein families control 63.2 per cent of Bio Bio, Mexico’s Cemex 11.9 per cent and others the balance.  Published under Cement News