Antam completes audit of 2003 financial report, revises 2002 earning

Publicly listed gold and nickel miner PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam)said on Wednesday it had finally completed the audit of its 2003 financial report, ending uncertainty over how to cover the burden of medical expenses of company pensioners.

The Koran Tempo daily reported that Antam's audited 2003 net profit was Rp 226.6 billion, some Rp 16.4 billion lower than the non-audited version of Rp 242.9 billion unveiled earlier last month.

Company president Deddy Soemanegara said that the lower profit was a result of a financial burden in covering the medical bills of pensioners.

The Koran Tempo said previously that the company has an obligation to allocate up to Rp 600 billion worth of funds to cover the medical bills. PricewaterhouseCoopers, its auditor reportedly declined to complete the audit if the medical expenses were not incorporated in the 2003 report.

Deddy also said that the company would issue a restatement of its 2002 financial report as it decided to also pass the burden into the previous year, resulting in a lower 2002 retained earnings. Hed did not provide details.

But in a report to the Australian Stock Exchange (the company is both listed in the Indonesian and Australian stock markets), Antam's 2002 net profit was put at Rp 177.402 billion, or Rp 25 billion lower than Rp 202,022 billion in the previous audited report.

Deddy said that the restatement of the 2002 account was made to avoid accrual effect in the company's future financial report.(*)