PTBA reports 9% increase in Q1 sales

IDX-listed coal mining company PT Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA) said that despite the lingering downturn in the global coal market, the company managed to increase sales in the first quarter, providing optimism to reach higher full-year sales target.

The company said in a statement Thursday that sales volume in the January-March period of this year increased by 9 percent to 4.57 million tons from 4.21 million in the corresponding period of last year.

As a result, revenue rose by 6 percent in the first quarter of this year to Rp 3.27 trillion from Rp 3.09 trillion in the same quarter of last year.

Nevertheless, the company saw its average selling price declined to Rp 700,709 per ton compared to Rp 733,396 in the same first quarter of last year.

Thanks to various efficiency programs such as shortening hauling distance and the use of own power plants to supply internal electricity requirement have allowed PTBA to book net profit of Rp 346.71 billion.

To help cope with the unfavorable market condition, PTBA said it put priority in the selling of high calorific value coal. It said export in the first quarter of this year increased by 37 percent to 2.40 million tons from 1.75 million tons in the same period of last year, or 53 percent of the total sales volume of 4.21 million tons. The domestic market accounts for 47 percent of the total sales.

Production and purchase from third parties during the quarter reached only 3.70 million tons, compared to 3.76 million in the same period of last year. The slightly lower production was due to the increase in overall stripping ratio to 5.59x as the company opened new pits to meet 2015 production target.

Meanwhile, PTBA aims to increase sales volume by 33 percent this year to 24 million tons from 18.03 million tons last year. Production and purchase from third parties is also projected to increase by 30 percent to 23.70 million tons from 18.17 million tons last year.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak