Bumi?s net income surges 16.5 percent in first quarter

PT Bumi Resources, the country?s largest coal producer, booked a 16.5 increase in net profit during the first quarter this year on the back of higher coal prices, the media reported .

The company?s spokesman Dileep Srivastava, said in Jakarta on Friday the net profits in the first quarter ended in March increased to US$113 million from $97 million in the same period, last year.

During the first three months of this year, operating profits increased by 44.2 percent to $316 million from $219 in the corresponding period, last year, while pre-tax profits rose by 51 percent to $347 million from $229 million, Investor Daily repored.

Total revenues rose by 21 percent to $1.23 billion from $1.02 billion in the same period last year, Srivastava said.

He contributed the surge in the net profit to an increase in average coal selling price to $113 million from $97 million. The company expects the price would further increase in the next quarters on a strong demand.

Bumi has since January implemented the new generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), Srivastava said.

Bloomberg reported earlier that Bumi expected sales and prices to increase at least 10 percent this year, assuming reasonable weather conditions. The unit of PT Bakrie & Brothers sold a ?little over? 60 million tonnes of coal last year at an average $70 a tonne compared with 58 million tonnes at $63 a tonne in 2009.

Analysts expect Bumi, which has a market value of Rp 63.4 trillion ($7.4 billion), to report $489.3 million in profit and $5.5 billion in sales this year, according to a Bloomberg survey of 18 analysts.

Bumi declined 3.2 percent to 3,050 rupiah a share at the 4 p.m. close in Jakarta trading Friday. The stock has risen more than 71 percent in the past year, outpacing the 29 percent gain in the benchmark Jakarta Composite Index. (*)