Indonesia coal producer Bumi says 9-month net jumps

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia's largest coal producer, PT Bumi Resources Tbk , reported on Thursday a five-fold rise in nine-month net profit, powered by high coal

prices and gains from selling stakes in mines to India's Tata Power Co.

The firm, controlled by the family of Indonesia's chief social welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie, made a net profit of $800 million in the January-September period, up from $153 million a year ago, Reuters reported.

Bumi agreed in March to sell stakes in two of its biggest mines, PT Kaltim Prima Coal and PT Arutmin Indonesia, to India's Tata Power for $1.3 billion.

Bumi, which has a market capitalisation of $10.2 billion, had said its coal output this year may top its target of 58 million tonnes if weather conditions are favourable.

The firm reported nine month revenue gained 22.5 percent to $1.65 billion from $1.34 billion a year ago and made a one-off gain of $553.5 million from an investment disposal.

Indonesia, which has surpassed Australia as the world's biggest exporter of thermal coal, produced 193.5 million tonnes of coal last year and output is expected to rise 10 percent to around 214 million tonnes this year, an industry group said in May.

Rising exports from Indonesia are expected to help keep a lid on regional coal prices, which have nearly doubled in the past three years due to limited Australian export growth plus rapidly rising demand from China and India.

Bumi Resources is aiming to boost production by more than half over the next four years, reaching 100 million tonnes by the end of the decade.

Soaring coal prices had lifted Bumi's share price more than 400 percent since the start of the year, outpacing a 46 percent rise in the Jakarta Composite Index.