Tri Polyta profit jumps by 175 percent

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 03/28/2008 1:38 AM  |  Business

Publicly listed petrochemical company PT. Tri Polyta Indonesia booked a net profit of Rp 486 billion (US$52.97 million) last year, up by 175 percent from Rp 177 billion in 2006, an executive said.

President director Iman Sucipto Umar told the press Wednesday the profit increase was mainly due to the rise in polypropylene demand. The country's total polypropylene consumption increased by 6.4 percent to 830,000 tons last year from the 2006 level of 780,000 tons.

Selling all of its products to the domestic market, the company's sales rose by 7.3 percent from 303,541 tons in 2006 to 325,670 tons in 2007.

Sucipto is optimistic his company faces a bright future.

"It has been predicted demand for polypropylene will increase in line with economic growth this year. So we expect our profits to further increase," he said.

Indonesia's largest producer of polypropylene resins, with a market share of 39 percent, has managed to secure $55 million in new funds from several local banks with interest rates lower than those it pays to its bondholders.

The fund will also help the company's plan to operate at full capacity in the near future.

"Reaching full capacity won't be difficult as it will only require $1.5 million in funding. We're also considering raising our capacity in anticipation of growing demand," said Sucipto.

Sixteen percent of the company is owned by Prajogo Pangestu, 64 percent by Newport Global Investment Ltd of Malaysia, 16.8 percent by the investing public, 1.8 percent by Ibrahim Risjad and 0.25 percent by Handi Halim.

Polypropylene resins are a key raw material for homopolymer, random copolymer and impact copolymer. Homopolymer products are mainly used in a wide range of consumer products such as food packaging, plastic housewares, woven sacks and carpet backing.

The random copolymer and impact copolymer are mainly used to manufacture automotive parts, electronic appliances and plastic bottles.

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