Tunisia’s Société Moderne de Céramique (Somocer) plans to allocate 19 million Tunisian dinars ($13.73 million) by year-end 2008 towards various development projects, which would raise its annual earthenware output by 20 percent from the current 16.8 million. Stoneware production is planned to increase over 50 percent by 2008 from today’s annual 5.3 million.
The announcement was made ahead of Somocer’s TD5.54 million initial public offering (IPO), scheduled to open Monday, December 9, and close five days later, reported Reuters. With a capital of TD14 million, the company expects total turnover to reach TD50.9 million this year, up 15 percent from 2001’s figure. Somocer earns over a third of its turnover from exports mainly to close-by Libya and France.
The privately held company is Tunisia's largest ceramics manufacturer. Somocer has launched its first production line for technical and glazed granito ceramic two years ago, in a bid to double its granito and double-firing output capacity to 20,000 square meters per day. All its products are manufactured with Italian Sacmi machinery. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
