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.