Semen Gresik profit jumps 39%

Semen Gresik profit jumps 39%

JAKARTA: PT Semen Gresik, Indonesia's biggest cement maker by
volume, said nine-month profit rose 39 percent, as the lowest
interest rates in six years helped stoke demand for new homes and
offices, and lowered the cost of servicing its debt.

Unaudited net income rose to Rp 370 billion (US$41 million),
or Rp 624 a share, in the nine months ended Sept. 30, compared
with Rp 266.9 billion, or Rp 450 a share, a year earlier, the
Gresik, East Java-based company said in a statement. Sales rose
10 percent to Rp 4.51 trillion.

More homes and retail spaces are being built in Indonesia as
consumers and businesses take advantage of lending rates that
averaged 16 percent in the first nine months of the year,
compared with 19 percent in the same period last year. Gresik
spent 223.2 billion rupiah in interest expenses in the nine-month
period, compared with 322 billion rupiah a year earlier. --
Bloomberg