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ublicly listed flexible packaging film maker PT Indopoly Swakarsa Industry (IPOL), controlled by the Salim Group conglomerate, is looking to grow its bottom line by 40 percent this year, despite last year’s weak performance.

Indopoly suffered a 70 percent drop in net profits last year to Rp 50 billion (US$5.3 million) and saw its bottom line plunge further in the first quarter of this year to Rp 11 billion compared to Rp 31 billion in the same quarter last year.

“Surging oil prices in 2011 highly affected our profits last year. But we are optimistic about boosting our net sales and profits this year,” Indopoly finance director Pe Maria Indra said on Thursday.

Indopoly uses raw materials derived from crude oil and natural gas to manufacture biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP) and biaxially-oriented polyester (BOPET).

“The changes in the market price of oil and gas have direct impacts on the prices of our raw materials, which highly affected our profits last year,” said Maria. “However, we are optimistic we will be able to achieve the target due to the stable price of the raw materials this year, compared with last year’s volatility.”

Indopoly, which supplies film packaging to tobacco firm Phillip Morris and Canadian snack food manufacturer Frito-Lay, is aiming for a 14 percent increase in net sales this year, trying to focus on exports of value added products in the foreign market.

Indopoly booked Rp 1.8 trillion in net sales last year, up 12 percent from Rp 1.62 trillion in 2010.

The company will upgrade its factory to meet the high standards of the foreign market, to help increase the company’s profit since foreign markets offer better pricing, according to Maria.

“We allocated Rp 47 billion to capital expenditures this year, which will be used to equip our factories with supporting tools to add to the value of our products,” said Maria.

Last June, Indopoly operated two metalizing lines in its factory in Purwakarta, that produced a total of 14,000 tons of metalized film per year, enhancing the added value of its BOPET and BOPP film production lines.

The company served about 150 customers worldwide, and exported 40 percent of its production volume to countries such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey and the US, Indopoly president director Henry Halim said.

Indopoly is currently 41 percent owned by Jefflyne Golden Holdings Pte Ltd, 35.7 percent by public shareholders, 23 percent by Noble Ox International Ltd, and 0.1 percent by PT Inti Pincuran Mas Nugraha.

The company’s three factories are located in Purwakarta with a production capacity of 65,000 tons per year; and in Jiangsu and Kumming, China with a capacity of 25,000 and 10,000 tons per year, respectively.

Shares in Indopoly traded at Rp 114 apiece on Thursday, up 4.6 percent from Wednesday. The stock has fallen 14.3 percent so far this year. (nad)