Antam revenue drops 28%

Petromindo|Khalsa

IDX-listed mining firm PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam) reported Monday that net revenue in the first semester of this year fell by 28 primarily due to lower sales volume of ferronickel and gold.

Antam said in a statement that revenue in the January-June period of this year declined to Rp 3.01 trillion from Rp 4.16 trillion in the corresponding period of last year.

The company said that while ferronickel output during the first six-month of this year increased by 12 percent to 9,327 tons of nickel in ferronickel (TNi), year-on-year, sales volume fell by 4 percent to 7,791 TNi from 8,092 TNi in the first semester of last year.

The company explained that the lower sales volume was attributed to impact from roof replacement work at electric smelting furnace-3 and production facility optimization at its FeNi III plant in Pomalaa, which has operating capacity of 10,000 TNi. Both works have been completed in the middle of March of this year, and that production rate at Pomalaa plant has returned to optimum level.

The lower sales volume was also due to Antam?s strategy to withhold sales amid weak nickel price. The company said it aims to increase sales in the second half of this year on expected rise in the price of the commodity. Average nickel price in the first half of this year was US$4.55 per pound, and by September it has risen to $5.43 per pound.

Meanwhile, gold production volume in the first semester of this year was relatively flat at 1,013 kg, compared to 1,015 kg in the same period of last year. However, sales volume dropped by 38 percent to 3,298 kg in the first half of this year from 5,392 kg in the same period of last year. The lower sales volume, the company said, was attributed to disruption at its precious metal refinery in the early part of this year, but has now been fixed.

Antam?s gold price in the first semester of this year averaged at $1,272 per oz.

Antam said it will increase gold sales in the second semester of this year through higher export and domestic sales.

Antam, however, said that despite the lower net revenue, it managed to deliver a 35 percent increase in EBITDA in the first semester of this year to Rp 361.8 billion, year-on-year.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak