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Recent rises in global commodity prices have set a number of
state firms operating in the energy and mining sectors on a roll, with
gas utility PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) and miner PT Aneka Tambang
(Antam) reporting big jumps in their third-quarter profits.
PGN reported an unaudited net profit for the first nine months ending
Sept. 30 that was four times higher at Rp 1.56 trillion (US$169
million) -- or Rp 343 per share -- than a year earlier.
Antam, meanwhile, saw its profits increase by 14 percent to Rp 809
billion -- or Rp 423 a share -- from Rp 711 billion during the same
period last year.
PGN's higher profits came on the back of stronger earnings from its
gas-distribution operations, with the volume involved rising to 315.68
MMSCFD as of September, and its gas transmission business, with the
amount of gas transmitted rising 16 percent to 686.82 MMSCFD, the
company's finance director Djoko Pramono said in a press release.
It also profited from a rise in the selling price of liquified natural
gas (LNG) to $5 per MMBTU from $4.5 per MMBTU previously.
PGN's rosy results may buttress investor demand for the stake of up to
7 percent in the company that the government plans to divest later this
year.
The government still controls 60 percent of PGN, whose shares (PGAS)
are traded on the Jakarta Stock Exchange.
PGN shares rose 0.87 percent Tuesday to Rp 11,500.
Antam attributed its higher profits to a 53 percent increase in net
sales to Rp 3.4 trillion, mostly the result of a more than doubling of
its ferronickel output to 9,716 tons, and a 25 percent increase in the
market price of ferronickel to $8.59 per pound, the company said in a
statement to the JSX.
Antam is 65 percent owned by the government. Its shares (ANTM) closed
0.71 percent down Tuesday at Rp 6,950.
Improving metal prices as well as fuel prices, however, failed to help
state tin miner and refiner PT Timah, as the company's higher
processing costs held back its third-quarter earnings.
Timah reported a 39 percent drop in net income to Rp 61.6 billion -- or
Rp 122 a share -- from Rp 101.1 billion -- or Rp 201 a share -- the
previous year.
Sales rose only 15 percent to Rp 2.6 trillion, while the company's cost
of sales increased by 20 percent, Timah said in a statement to the JSX.
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