Energi restates Q1 profit by 57 percent

Arijit Ghosh, Bloomberg/Jakarta

PT Energi Mega Persada (EMP), Indonesia's second-biggest publicly traded oil and gas company, restated its first-quarter profit lower by 57 percent because of a change in deferred tax expense calculations.

Net income for the first three months of the year was restated to Rp 54.3 billion (US$5.5 million) from Rp 127.6 billion it reported last month, the company said in an e-mailed statement. EMP posted a profit of Rp 24.3 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The company restated its earnings after the Jakarta Stock Exchange suspended the company's shares on Wednesday upon receiving a letter from accounting firm Grant Thornton Hendrawinata, which had changed its opinion about the accounting of deferred tax.

"It's most unfortunate that after prudently securing expert accounting advice, we have been advised by Grant Thornton that their position on deferred tax has changed," Christopher Newton, president of EMP said in the statement.

The change will not have any change on EMP's cash flow, Newton said. Sales rose to Rp 372 billion from Rp 137.8 billion in the period and have not been restated.

In the first quarter, the company increased oil output by 4 percent, or 907,000 barrels. The oil fetched an average price of $50.77 a barrel, 73 percent higher than a year ago.

EMP more than doubled gas production to 13.3 billion cubic feet in the period, from 5.1 billion cubic feet a year ago. The gas fetched an average $1.92 per million cubic feet, 27 percent lower than a year ago.

Grant Thornton LLP is the fifth-largest U.S. accounting firm by sales.