JSX may lift suspension on SG shares soon

JSX may lift suspension on SG shares soon

The Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) may lift the suspension on
the trading of cement giant PT Semen Gresik's shares next week if
the company can come up with reasonable explanations for its
accounting problems.

JSX listing director Harry Wiguna told The Jakarta Post via a
telephone interview on Thursday that the bourse might lift the
suspension as early as July 8 if it received a written
clarification from SG and considered it sufficient.

"We may lift the suspension next Thursday. But to date, we
still haven't received a clarification from the company. They (SG
management) should submit it immediately if they want the
suspension to be lifted right away," said Harry.

The JSX suspended the trading of SG shares on June 28 after
the firm's auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), issued
disclaimers for the 2002 and 2003 accounts due to the failure to
secure the audit of the accounts of the company's West Sumatra
subsidiary, PT Semen Padang.

Gresik's shares were last traded at Rp 8,000 before the JSX
suspended them.

Previously, Harry had said that SG shares would be suspended
until the company's annual shareholders meeting on June 30, or
until such time as SG received a satisfactory opinion from PwC
after completing the audit of Semen Padang, which is expected in
October.

SG has been facing difficulties in finalizing its 2002
financial statements, which in turn has affected the completion
of its 2003 statements, due to problems with the rebellious Semen
Padang, which has demanded that it be hived off from the parent
company.

The government controls 51 percent of SG shares, while 25.5
percent are owned by Mexico cement giant Cemex SA and 23.5
percent by the investing public. -- JP