Bumi's H1 profit rises on high coal prices

JSX-listed coal mining firm PT Bumi Resources said Thursday that profit in the first half rose 13 percent due to high coal prices, with an average selling price reaching US$40 per ton.

Audited net income in the six months ended June 30 increased to $90.4 million from a restated $79.9 million, the company said in a statement on Bumi?s website. Sales rose 25 percent to $866 million from $692 million.

The company said that production costs for the first half increased due to unusually high rain that was impacting mining activity.

Bumi's cost of sales in the first six months of the year rose 41 percent, outpacing sales, to $631 million. Bumi?s operating income fell 14 percent to $156 million from $181 million a year earlier.

Bumi estimated in a statement earlier its 2007 coal sales and production could reach 62 million tons from its both Kalimantan mines - Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) and Arutmin Indonesia - compared to this year?s production target of around 51 million tonnes.

In 2005, KPC and Arutmin produced 45 million tons. (denny)