Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Cement producer PT Semen Baturaja Tbk (SMBR) reported a 27 percent increase year-on-year in net profit to Rp224.7 billion in the first 8 months of the year.

Zulfikri Subli, the corporate secretary of the publicly traded state company attributed the increase in net profit to strong growth of sales , saying sales grew 29 percent to 925,034 tons in the eight month period this year from 714,863 tons in the same period last year.

"The income of the company (which is based in South Sumatra) surged 29 percent to Rp880.1 billion n from Rp682.3 billion," Zulkifli said here on Tuesday.

He said the management is optimistic the company would perform better in the remaining months of this year with growing demand for cement in southern part of Sumatra.

He said cement demand is expected to rebound in the second half of the year.

In South Sumatra cement demand grew 4 percent in the first 8 months of the year compared with the same period last year.

"The companys main market is South Sumatra, Lampung , Jam,bi and Bengkulu," he said.

Earlier, Vice President of Research and Analysis Valbury Asia Securities Nico Omer Jonckheere said the prospect is good long term investment in cement companies listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange .

The government is expected to disburse large spending for infrastructure projects that would need large supply of cement, he said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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