Indocement's forex loss

JAKARTA (JP): Shareholders of publicly listed PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa agreed to allocate an allowance of Rp 423.5 billion for an extraordinary foreign exchange loss during this year's first nine months, the company said yesterday.

The company said the amount would be set aside for booking loss recognition, instead of cash loss, as its foreign exchange debt maturity was between four and 11 years.

"The 39 percent rupiah depreciation against the U.S. dollar this year made foreign exchange losses increase sharply to Rp 152.2 billion compared to Rp 7.7 billion in the same period last year," the company said.

Indocement, a Salim Group subsidiary, booked Rp 1.04 trillion in net income in the same period, up 46.5 percent on year-to- year, it said.

Its gross profit fell 10.1 percent to Rp 473.1 billion, mainly as a result of a 17.4 percent rise in production costs to Rp 90,658 per ton, and in operating costs to Rp 91.8 billion from Rp 76.5 billion, it said. (das)