Timah to pay 50 percent of profit in dividend

State-owned tin producer PT Timah Tbk has decided to allocate 50 percent of its 2003 net profit for dividend, or Rp67.79 per share, the Investor Daily Indonesia reported in its Thursday edition. .

Timah president director Thobrani Alwi said on Wednesday that the company's shareholders had agreed to allocate Rp34.12 billion (US$3.87 million) in dividend and the remaining profit of Rp33.43 billion will be kept as reserve.

Last year, the company's net profit surged by more than 400 percent to Rp76.4 billion, from Rp13.4 billion in 2002, due to an increase in the global price of tin.

Timah expects tin prices to remain stable above $6,000 a metric ton for the rest of 2004 to support a higher growth estimate of its financial performance.

"If tin prices could on average stay above that level, our sales and net profit this year will be higher than last year's," Thobrani said. (*)