Bumi 9-month profit doubles on sales

Bumi 9-month profit doubles on sales

Grace Nirang, Bloomberg/Jakarta

PT Bumi Resources, Indonesia's biggest coal exporter, doubled its nine-month profit after selling more coal at higher prices.

Net income in the period ended Sept. 30 rose to Rp 1.51 trillion (US$149 million), or Rp 77.87 a share, in the period, from Rp 738.9 billion, or Rp 38.08 a share, a year earlier, the company told the Jakarta Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Indonesia is the fourth-largest coal producer in the Asia Pacific region, behind China, Australia and India, according to estimates by BP Plc, the world's second-largest publicly traded oil company. About 99 percent of the coal produced in Indonesia is thermal coal.

Nine-month sales jumped 65 percent to Rp 11.6 trillion. Bumi owns PT Kaltim Prima Coal in East Kalimantan and PT Arutmin Indonesia in South Kalimantan which produce thermal coal, the type burned to produce electricity.

The company's foreign-currency loss widened to Rp 99.41 billion from Rp 52.32 billion a year earlier.

Operating costs rose 48 percent to Rp 1.17 trillion as the company paid higher prices for fuel. Fuel costs accounted for about 13 percent of total costs as coal mining is power- intensive, and the higher costs may cut profit by as much as 10 percent, Finance Director Eddie Soebari said on July 11.

PT Pertamina, the state oil and gas company on Monday raised the prices of industrial diesel for the sixth time this year.

Bumi Resources didn't provide the volume of coal produced in the period, or the average price the fuel fetched.