Aneka Tambang plans 30% dividend payout ratio

Aneka Tambang plans 30% dividend payout ratio

Dow Jones, Jakarta

PT Aneka Tambang (Antam), a publicly listed gold and nickel miner, on Monday said it planned to set aside as much as 30 percent of its 2003 net profit for dividend payment.

"We will hold a shareholders' meeting on May 27 to seek approval for the dividend payment plan," Aneka Tambang's spokesman Dohar Siregar told reporters.

He didn't provide any other details.

The company's net profit last year rose 28 percent to Rp 226.55 billion rupiah (US$26.65 million) from Rp 177.40 billion a year earlier on the back of higher commodity prices.

The price of nickel last year jumped by an average of 37 percent, while the price of gold rose by nearly 20 percent amid signs of global economic recovery and strong demand in the fast growing economy of China.

But higher labor costs and fuel prices last year had put pressure on revenue.

Aneka Tambang is one of several state-owned companies that the government plans to divest in the first half of this year as part of a privatization program.

The government plans to sell up to a 14 percent stake in Aneka Tambang through a secondary public offering to narrow its budget deficit.

Dohar said the government has named local state-owned securities company PT Mandiri Sekuritas to underwrite the offering.

The government has a 65 percent stake in Aneka Tambang.