Bloomberg Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam said profit more than doubled last year

(Bloomberg) Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam said profit more than doubled last year as it sold more fuel at higher prices. Audited net income in the year ended 31 Dec 08 rose to Rp1.71tr (US$143m), or Rp741 a share, from Rp726.2bn, or Rp315 a share, in FY07, the company said. Sales climbed 75% to Rp7.22tr. Bukit Asam exported its coal at average price of US$68.73 a metric ton last year, 45% higher than US$47.50 in FY07, while average price in domestic market rose 47% to Rp507,240. Sales volume rose 18% to 12.8m tons in FY08 and may climb to 14.5m tons in FY09, the company said. The company has signed an agreement with Indonesia Power to supply 6.1m tons of coal this year to Suralaya power plant for Rp884,000 a ton, including insurance and freight, the statement said.

The reported net profit is below our and consensus by some 12%, while operating profit is also slightly lower than most expectations due to higher costs. The bigger deviations on the reported net profit are due to several one-off items booked in 4Q08: 1) Rp56bn provision for unrecoverable third-party advances, 2) Rp74bn additional royalty charge for 2004-07 period following changes in the basic royalty payment method, 3) Rp60.7bn provision for retirement benefits, 4) Rp37.7bn adjustment in deferred tax asset following new tax treatments which have pushed up tax rates in 4Q08. Stripping out all these one-off items, PTBA's core profit is some 95% of our estimates.