Indonesia’s Semen Gresik posts 30 per cent rise in net profit

State-owned cement maker PT Semen Gresik reported a 30 per cent increase in net profit to Rp1,353bn (US$153m) this year, from Rp1,023bn in the previous year.

The country’s largest cement producer performed well last year, when demand for cement in the country grew sluggishly by only 1.6 per cent.

Earlier, its President Dwi Soetjipto said that this year, the publicly-listed company was expected to chalk up a 40 per cent increase in income from Rp8trn, up from Rp7.8trn in the previous year.

Dwi said the company was preparing for expansion by building more factories to forestall deficit in domestic supply in 2011.

The company is seeking a loan from Bank Mandiri to finance the project estimated to cost US$303m with construction to start in 2008.

This year, the Semen Gresik Group is forecast to produce 17.2Mt of cement, up 400,000t from last year.