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roperty developer Surya Semesta Internusa (SSIA) has booked 35 percent year-on-year (yoy) growth in net profits despite industrial slowdown, thanks mostly to robust construction growth and the newly launched Cikopo-Palimanan toll road.

SSIA, in a recently published statement, announced that two of its three business units had grown, with its construction unit '€” run by its publicly listed subsidiary Nusa Raya Cipta '€” remaining the company'€™s main money generator amid lessening industrial property demand.

The firm'€™s construction unit '€” accounting for more than 70 percent of the company'€™s total revenue '€” increased by 15 percent yoy to Rp 1.79 trillion (US$126.46 million) in the Jan-June period this year, compared with Rp 1.56 trillion in the same period last year. Last year the company booked around 8 percent growth from the same sector in the first half.

The increase helped push SSIA'€™s total top line to Rp 2.5 trillion, a 14.6 percent yoy increase, versus the 7.23 percent decline of revenue it registered in the same period last year. Its bottom line grew by 35.18 percent to Rp 256.32 billion in the first six months of 2015, versus a 50.36 percent decline in the corresponding period last year.

SSIA said that the Cikopo-Palimanan highway in West Java had played a part in the company'€™s improving performance.

'€œOur flagship infrastructure project, the Cikopo'€Palimanan toll road, started commercial operation on June 25. With post-Lebaran homecoming traffic, the toll road reached an average end-to-end sectional traffic volume of 22,000 to 25,000 vehicles per day,'€ the company announced in a statement published on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) website on Friday.

The highway connects the existing Jakarta-Cikampek and Palimanan-Kanci toll roads and is part of the Trans-Java Highway. The company was involved in the project through its associated company Bhaskara Utama, which has 45 percent ownership in Lintas Marga Sedaya, the company that manages the toll road. The project began in 2012 and cost Rp 12.56 trillion.

Adrian Mahendra Putra from Bahana Sekuritas said he believed the toll road would help support the company, especially given the bleak outlook in the property and construction sectors amid a gloomy macroeconomic situation.

The toll road was particularly valuable, Adrian said, as it was connected to the company'€™s industrial estate in Subang, West Java.

'€œWe believe this toll road is beneficial for SSIA, as it provides access to its Subang industrial estates, which are being developed. In addition, SSIA'€™s industrial land expansion in Subang has reached over 250 hectares, with management targeting up to 500 ha by the end of 2015.'€

However, Adrian said that he had decided to trim the company'€™s projection because of its exposure to the wider economic malaise, which might affect industrial demand and construction projects.

'€œOn earnings, we cut our 2015 net profit by 10-13 percent as we assume a lower level of industrial land sales and new construction contracts ahead due to the current economic slowdown.'€

Bahana'€™s projection for the company'€™s full-year net profits currently stands at Rp 415 billion, an around 15 percent increase from last year'€™s bottom line.

The company revised its year-end marketing sales target to 20 ha, less than half of its initial target.

Industrial estates come under the company'€™s property unit, where revenue grew by 28.6 percent yoy to Rp 412.2 billion. Meanwhile, the company'€™s third business unit, hospitality, contracted by 1.5 percent to Rp 293.4 billion.