Indonesia's Gresik says 2008 net profit up about 40 pct

Reuters, Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:54am EDT  

JAKARTA, March 16 (Reuters) - Indonesia's largest cement firm, PT Semen Gresik (SMGR.JK), on Monday said net profit rose about 40 percent to 2.5 trillion rupiah ($208.8 million) in 2008 from 1.78 trillion rupiah in 2007, thanks to a construction boom. 

The state-controlled company also said sales climbed to 12.2 trillion rupiah in 2008, from 9.6 trillion rupiah in the previous year. 

The firm's shares were down 0.72 percent at 0848 GMT at 3,425 rupiah. ($1=11975 Rupiah) (Writing by Andreas Ismar; Editing by Sara Webb)