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