PT Apac Centertex plans US$100 million expansion

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed textile producer PT Apac Centertext Corporation (ACC) plans a US$100 million package of expansion projects this year, the company said yesterday.

"The expansion will be funded by supplier credit which we hope to get with very attractive conditions," company director Anas Bahfen said after the company's shareholders meeting.

He said ACC would increase its yarn production capacity 67 percent to 687,000 bales a year, its greige capacity 42 percent to 124 million meters a year and its finished denim fabric capacity 247 percent to 60 million yards a year.

"The expansion will make ACC the country's biggest and the world's eighth biggest denim producer," he said.

ACC will also upgrade its subsidiary's, PT Apac Inti Corpora (AIC), greige making machinery by adding dyeing, printing and finishing facilities.

It is relocating its production facilities from Jakarta to Semarang, Bawen and Pekalongan in Central Java "to reduce production costs", said Bahfen.

He said ACC was constructing a 100 Megawatt steam power plant worth $54 million near AIC's production facilities in Bawen.

ACC owns 30 percent of the plant, Vander Horst 40 percent, East Phillipine Power Plant 30 percent.

ACC also plans to open a cotton plantation in Queensland, Australia to support its production, but the feasibility study is not yet finished, said Bahfen.

ACC increased its net profit 4,816 percent to Rp 24.09 billion in 1996.

"The fantastic increase was generated by AIC which we bought in August 1996," said Bahfen. He said AIC contributed 90 percent of its 1996 sales profit.

ACC bought 94.12 percent of AIC for Rp 400 billion with funds raised from a rights issue.

ACC suffered financial losses from 1993 to 1994 before making a Rp 0.49 billion net profit in 1995.

Bahfen said the company projected its net sales would increase 89.7 percent to Rp 615 billion this year and its net profit 132.4 percent to Rp 56 billion.

ACC made Rp 14.9 billion net profit in the first quarter of the year, he said.

The company's shareholders meeting agreed to distribute Rp 2.55 billion of its net profit, or Rp 5 per share, as dividends. (jsk)