Timah pay dividends higher than allocated

State mining company PT Tambang Timah, with pressure from its shareholders, agree on Thursday (May 17) to pay dividend of up to 42.5 percent of its net profit recorded last year of Rp 331.6 billion.

Actually, the company had allocated only 30 percent of last year profit to pay dividend, according to Timah president Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas. But the shareholders want more, wanting at least 40 percent of the net profit.

Speaking to reporters after the company's shareholders meeting on Thursday, Erry said that the management insisted at the meeting that it should pay only 30 percent of the net profit for the dividend, but shareholders continued demanding that the company paid them at least 40 percent of the profit.

The management then backed down and agreed to set aside 40.5 percent of its last year net profit for dividend payment, totalling Rp 119.7 billion or Rp 287.86 per share.

Timah's last year net profit represented a 4.25 percent increase from Rp 318 billion recorded in 1999. Therefore, Timah's profit per share rose to Rp 659 per share last year from Rp 632 per share in 1999.

Timah booked such slight increase in net profit on the backs of falling sales value by 3.4 percent to Rp 1.64 trillion last year from Rp 1.69 trillion in 1999. This drop in sales came from the 5.8 percent drop in the tin sales value to Rp 1.57 trillion, that accounted for 96 percent of the company's total sales last year.

Timah's tin reserves currently stand at over 300,000 tons, or enough to be mined until 2016, at a declining production level per annum.

Therefore, Timah is currently exploring possibilities to mine for tin abroad including in Vietnam. Currently, Timah is conducting mining exploration activities in Vietnam.

Erry, nevertheless, said that Timah's planned tin mining exploration in Myanmar had faltered, simply because Timah could reach an agreement with the local partner, that demanded a higher income portion than what Timah could offer. (*)