Bumi's Q1 profit up to Rp 446.7 billion

Bumi's Q1 profit up to Rp 446.7 billion

Bloomberg, Jakarta

PT Bumi Resources, Indonesia's biggest coal exporter, said first-
quarter profit rose as it boosted production to meet increased
demand from Chinese power producers.

Net income rose to Rp 446.7 billion (US$47 million) in the
quarter, Bumi's President Director Ari Hudaya told analysts on
Wednesday. He didn't give a comparative profit figure. Earnings
per share rose to Rp 23 from Rp 4.46, he said.

Sales in the quarter gained 73 percent to Rp 3.07 trillion
Bumi increased output to 9.11 million metric tons from 7.86
million tons, Hudaya said.

Coal prices soared to records last year, bolstered by demand
from China, where the economy expanded at the fastest pace in
eight years, causing a surge in electricity consumption.
Bottlenecks in China's over-stretched railway network delayed
coal deliveries, pushing prices up further. Indonesia exports
mostly thermal coal, used to produce electricity.

Bumi sold its coal at an average of $38.60 a metric ton at
Indonesian ports in the first quarter, compared with an average
price of $31.80 a ton in 2004, Hudaya said, without giving a
comparative figure for the same quarter a year earlier.

Bumi owns PT Kaltim Prima Coal, which operates mines in East
Kalimantan, and PT Arutmin Indonesia, which mines in South
Kalimantan.

Bumi expects to receive a $104 million payment by the end of
June from PT Kutai Timur Energy, which in October agreed to buy
18.6 percent of Kaltim Prima, Hudaya said. Kutai Timur is owned
by the government of the East Kutai regency.