Hexindo signs US$45m maintenance deal

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed PT Hexindo Adiperkasa renewed yesterday a five-year contract with PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) worth US$45 million for the maintenance of mining equipment at Prima's coal mine in East Kalimantan.

"This is the second contract with KPC for the total maintenance of 17 excavators," Hexindo's president Rustam Effendi told reporters after the signing ceremony.

The first contract worth $35 million with KPC was signed in 1990 for the maintenance of 15 excavators starting from 1990 to 1995.

Rustam said that his company posted a net profit of Rp 4.8 billion ($2.13 million) in the first sixth months of this year and expects to book Rp 13.8 billion profits for the whole year, up sharply from Rp 7.8 billion last year.

He said that KPC's demand for excavators will increase by 50 percent in line with the company's plan to increase its production capacity within the next three years.

Hexindo, which floated its shares on Jakarta Stock Exchange in 1994, is a distributor of heavy equipment.

Meanwhile, KPC's General Manager for Mining Peter Marshall said that his company will increase its annual production capacity from 10 million tons of coal to 15 million tons of coal within three years.

"We will become the largest single-site coal producer in the world with 17 excavators," Marshall told Jakarta Post

He said that his company's coal output is wholly exported to Japan, Taiwan, the United States and European countries.

KPC is owned equally by the British Petroleum company and CRA Limited of Australia.

Marshall said that KPC plans to float its shares on the Jakarta Stock Exchange next year. (04)