Bumi 2nd-Quarter Profit Doubles on Higher Coal Prices (Update1)
By Leony Aurora
Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- PT Bumi Resources, Asia's biggest
exporter of power-station coal, said second-quarter profit
doubled as record prices outweighed a drop in sales volume
caused by heavy rains on the island of Borneo.
Net income before one-time items climbed to $198.5 million
in the three months ended June 30 from $92.9 million a year
earlier, Bumi said, citing preliminary figures. The Jakarta-
based company booked a $547 million investment gain last year
after selling stakes in two mines, it said in an e-mailed
statement late yesterday.
Power-station coal prices have more than doubled on rising
demand from Asian electricity producers, led by China and India,
and as railroad and port bottlenecks in Australia and South
Africa curbed supplies. Second-quarter sales gained 44 percent
to $830 million, Bumi said.
``Coal prices should continue to be buoyant in the medium
term,'' Kim Kwie Sjamsudin, an analyst with BNP Paribas SA, said
in a note to investors on July 24. The supply-and-demand balance
``remains tight until 2010.''
Bumi shares have more than doubled in the past year in
Jakarta trading, making them the best-performer of the 23 stocks
in the Bloomberg World Coal Index.
Coal sales in the second quarter fell to 12.9 million
metric tons from 13.8 million tons, Bumi said. The company cut
its full-year sales forecast by 1.6 percent to 60 million tons
because it may decide to build up stockpiles, Bumi said in the
statement.
The company sold less coal in the first half of the year
due to ``higher prolonged rainfall'' and some delayed arrivals
of new heavy machinery, it said in the statement.
First-half net income excluding one-time items rose to $302
million from $173 million a year earlier. Sales in the six-
months ended June 30 climbed 30 percent to $1.49 billion, Bumi
said in the statement.
Coal sales fell to 25.4 million tons in the first half of
the year from 28.3 million tons, Bumi said.
