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T Akasha Wira International, the producer of bottled mineral water Nestle Pure Life and Vica Royal, says it expects to see its revenues increase by 20 percent this year supported by growing capacity of the company'€™s production.

The company, which also manufactures cosmetic products, is finishing a new production line at its water bottling facility in Cibinong, West Java. Once it is complete, the company will have two production lines.

'€œThe new line will begin early in the second half, boosting the total capacity to 800 million liters of bottled water per year,'€ president director Martin Jimi said on Thursday.

Akasha currently has an annual capacity of 400 million liters of bottled water and 5,000 tons of cosmetics. To achieve the 20 percent increase, Akasha has allocated Rp 130 billion (US$9.7 billion) for capital expenditure (capex) this year sourced from bank loans and internal cash.

The capex will also be used partly to purchase several new machines, Martin said.

The company booked Rp 578 billion in net revenue last year, 15 percent higher than in 2013. About 50.4 percent of the revenue came from bottled water sales and the remaining came from cosmetics.

Its profits, however, plunged by 77 percent to Rp 31 billion due to higher operational and distribution expenses.

Akasha Wira manufactures and distributes bottled water under Nestle Pure Life and Vica Royal brands and beauty care products under the Makarizo brand.

This year, the company will focus more on general trade distribution (selling products to retailers) rather than modern trade (selling to the institutions like big industrial houses), Martin said.

Modern and general trade currently contributes 70 and 30 percent to the distribution process, respectively.

'€œOur bottled water is less popular in the retail market than the top player, capturing only 10 percent of market share,'€ he added, referring to the Spanish-French giant Danone Group'€™s Aqua and VIT as the competitors which captured a 46 percent market share.

Data from the Association of Indonesian Producers of Packaged Drinking Water (Aspadin) recorded growing demands over the past few years due to the population growth in the middle-income segment.

Sales of bottled water in the country increased 23 percent to 12.8 billion liters in 2014. The increase also took place during the first quarter of this year by 11.5 percent to Rp 5.8 billion liters over the same period last year, according to the data.

Meanwhile, research firm Euromonitor International projects that bottled water in Indonesia will see stable positive growth ahead by at least 5 percent, driven by the growing population and health awareness.

Akasha Wira has also introduced its new hair perfume product from its Makarizo and new health beverage '€˜Pureal'€™, bottled organic soy milk, earlier this year to support boosting revenues.

Later, the company plans to produce organic soy-based foods, targeting people concerned with healthy living. '€œBut not this year. We are still researching,'€ Martin said.

The company operates four factories in Cibinong and Sengon of East Java for bottled drinking water, Pulo Gadung, East Jakarta, for cosmetics and Sukabumi, West Java, for the bottled organic soy milk. (foy)