NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's third-biggest cement maker, Athi River Mining, said on Wednesday pretax profit for the first half of 2009 rose 16 percent to 2.4 billion shillings. The company said turnover rose by 16 percent, with half of it coming from cement sales. Pretax profit stood at 2.07 billion shillings in the first half of 2008. Earnings per share rose 32 percent to 6.06 shillings from 4.60 shillings in the same period a year ago, the company said in a statement. ARM also manufactures fertiliser and other industrial goods and chemicals. It has also gone into power generation. The company is building a $120 million, 4,000 tonnes-a-day cement plant in Tanga, northern Tanzania. It hopes the plant, due to be completed late next year, will help it meet booming demand for cement from across the region. It is also expanding its cement production capacity in Kenya. France's Lafarge owns 14 percent of Athi River Mining, while 25 percent is listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. The founding family, Paunrana, owns about 50 percent. | 
