Bumi Resources 9-month net profit falls 39%

Indonesia?s largest coal miner PT Bumi Resources said Monday that its nine-month net profit fell 39 percent on year mostly due to gains from assets sold last year.

Net profit for the January-to-September period of 2008 fell to $490.15 million from $800.02 million in the same period a year earlier.

Bumi sold a 30 percent stake in mining units PT Kaltim Prima Coal and PT Arutmin Indonesia to Indian firm Tata Power last year for US$1.3 billion, raising $553.50 million in net proceeds.

Excluding the gains from the stake sale, Bumi's nine-month net profit for 2008 almost doubled, compared with $246.52 million a year earlier, the company said in its website.

Sales rose 47 percent on year to $2.43 billion from $1.65 billion in the first nine months of 2007. (Denny)