PTBA sees decrease in 2002 net profit
Tuesday, January 14 2003 - 01:37 AM WIB
State-owned coal miner PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam (PTBA) said Monday it expects its net profit for the full year of 2002 will fall 26 percent to around 200 billion rupiah ($1=Rp8,902) from Rp272 billion a year earlier.
PTBA's Finance Director Abdul Aziz attributed the fall in net profit last year mostly to the closure of its coal plant in Ombilin, West Sumatra province.
The closure of Ombilin increased the company's cost of operations because it had to reclaim the plant site to improve the environmental conditions, he added.
Aziz said the closure of Ombilin plant also caused PTBA's coal production in 2002 to fall by around 5 percent to 9.7 million metric tons of coal, from 10.2 million tons in 2001.
He said the lower production pushed the company's overall sales down by 4.5 percent to Rp2.1 trillion rupiah last year from Rp2.2 trillion in 2001.
He didn't elaborate further. (*)