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.