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tate-run construction company Waskita Karya has reported that its net profits for 2014 rose by over 36 percent year on year (yoy) despite modest growth in sales and a slowdown in the construction business during the election year.

Analysts have attributed the surge in profits to the company'€™s prospering precast concrete business.

Waskita Karya, according to its published audited financial result, booked Rp 501.53 billion (US$38.9 million) in net profits by the end of last year, a 36.53 percent increase compared to the Rp 368.06 billion generated in 2013.

The company'€™s revenue grew by 13.2 percent yoy to Rp 10.29 trillion last year, from Rp 9.09 trillion in the previous year.

The modest growth in revenue was in line with the slower construction business last year, held back by project holdups and investment uncertainty during the presidential and legislative elections.

Yusuf Nugraha from Anugerah Sentra Investama said the company'€™s precast concrete business Waskita Beton played a major role in boosting up the company'€™s bottom line, with sales at its precast subsidiary up by more than 2,800 percent.

Waskita plans to take Waskita Beton public in 2016, and has disbursed Rp 600 billion to finance the soon-to-be spun-off firm'€™s capacity expansion.

Waskita Beton is slated to open two new facilities, located in East Kalimantan and in West Java, which will add an additional 600,000 to 700,000 tons to the company'€™s current capacity of 800,000 tons.

As for this year, Yusuf said that the construction and precast concrete business would have great opportunities to book significant growth, thanks to the new government'€™s commitment to accelerating infrastructure development during its tenure.

Among the projects that are expected to help Waskita boost its financial performance is the government'€™s plan to build up to 1,000 kilometers of toll roads, 15 new airports and 24 new ports.

'€œIn the construction segment, overall government projects are still very attractive with the government focusing on investment in civil projects. Waskita'€™s core business is in building, civil and [engineering, procurement, construction] projects, both for domestic and overseas clients,'€ he said in a research report.

Waskita Karya is expecting 30 percent growth this year supported by massive government-funded infrastructure projects in sectors such as transportation and agriculture.

Waskita president director M. Choliq said previously that the company aimed at registering Rp 13.3 trillion in revenue and Rp 650 billion in net profits this year.

Those figures are nearly 34 percent and 30 percent higher, respectively, than the company'€™s achievements in 2014.

Its revenue and net profits may be higher than even these targets if the government realizes its plan to inject the company with additional capital.

Waskita is one of several publicly listed companies that will receive capital injections from the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry.

The company is expected to receive Rp 3.5 trillion from a Rp 4.7 trillion rights issue, with the ministry acting as standby purchaser. The remaining Rp 1.2 trillion will be floated to the public.

Waskita initially set its new contracts target at Rp 20.8 trillion for this year, but the stimulus will enable the builder to reap an additional Rp 28.8 trillion, which will mostly be allocated to toll roads and power transmission investment projects.

Thus, Waskita is expected to generate up to Rp 48.8 trillion in new contracts in its order books this year, more than double last year'€™s figure of Rp 22.7 trillion.

It will also mean a far better performance compared to its financial results last year.