INTERVIEW-Philippines' Semirara sees '08 profit up 20 pct

By Karen Lema

MANILA, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Semirara Mining Corp (SCC.PS), the Philippines' largest coal producer, expects its net profit to rise more than 20 percent this year and coal revenues to jump as much as 56 percent mainly due to higher coal prices and increased exports, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday.

Semirara hopes to sustain its double-digit profit and coal revenue growth next year with no let up in demand especially from the fast-growing economies of China and India.

"We expect more than 20 percent growth in profits for 2008 and at least 20 percent growth in profits for 2009," Isidro Consunji, who is also the president of Semirara's parent firm DMCI Holdings (DMC.PS), told Reuters in an interview.

The company booked net profit of 633.3 million pesos ($14.2 million) in 2007, up just 5 percent from the previous year.

Consunji said Semirara expects to book coal revenues of 9-10 billion pesos this year, up 41-56 percent from 6.4 billion pesos in 2007 when revenue rose 39 percent. It expects coal revenues to further climb to 14-16 billion pesos in 2009. ($1= 44.65 Philippine peso) (Editing by Anshuman Daga)