PTBA books Rp 2.72 trillion in net profits in 2009

State-owned coal mining company PT Perusahaan Tambang Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA) booked net profits of about Rp 2.73 trillion (US$=Rp 9,200) in 2009, an increase of nearly 60 percent from Rp 1.70 trillion last year.

Although total revenues rose only about 24 percent to Rp 8.95 trillion, the company managed to book a significant increase in both net profit and operating profit last year thanks to a sharp decline in operating costs. The operating profits rose 42 percent to Rp 3.55 trillion.

The company said that the increase in the total revenue was partly resulted from the average 27 percent increase in coal prices last year to Rp 714,562 per ton.

PTBA?s total production rose 7 percent to 11.5 million tons in 2009, while coal sales dropped by 2 percent to 12.5 million tons due the decline especially during the period between January to September in the year.

The company expected that coal sales would further increase in the coming years due to the increase in the capacity of the railway system used by the company to transport its coal to Tarahan coal terminal in Lampung, and additional production from newly acquired coal mine.

This year, the company expects sales to increase by 25 percent to 15.6 million tons.

In 2008, PTBA acquired 51 percent shares of PT Internasional Prima Coal (IPC) in East Kalimantan. The coal mine has been producing since early 2009 with an annual production of 58,000 tons. The total production is expected to further increase to 1.2 million tons in 2010. (godang)