P

ublicly listed PT Adaro Energy expects a double-digit growth in its revenue and net profits in 2009, having booked a fine first quarter performance.

Operating director Ah Hoo Chia expected company performance would be boosted by promising growth in demand at a time when coal prices have been rising.

"We still believe in double-digit growth for both *revenue and profits*," he said.

Thanks to higher sales volume and prices, Adaro recorded huge growth in first quarter net profit to Rp 1.145 trillion (around US$119 million) from a Rp 12 billion loss in the same period a year earlier.

"The significant increase was largely caused by the increase in sales volume and higher average selling prices," Ah Hoo said.

Adaro, which has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, sells to 48 customers in 18 countries worldwide, including power utilities Thai Power and state utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).

It expects to produce between 42 and 45 million tons of coal this year, up from 38.5 million tons in 2008, and aims to increase production to 80 million tons per annum during the next five years. Adaro supplies coal for Asian nations like India, Hong Kong and Japan; several EU countries like UK, Italy and Spain; and to the United States east coast.

"This year is for sure even better than last year," he said.

Benefiting from higher coal prices is another publicly listed coal mining company PT Indo Tambangraya Megah (ITM), the country's third largest, and the Indonesian subsidiary of Thailand's Banpu Pcl.

In the January-March period, the company booked a whopping 437 percent increase in net profits from a year earlier as higher selling prices offset lower sales volume.

"The price of coal has jumped to US$85 per ton from $50 per ton during the middle and the end of last year," ITM president director, Somyot Ruchiwarat, said Tuesday.

Net profits rose to $102 million from $19 million a year earlier on higher sales which rose from $219 million to $347 million. "The higher price offset our volume which dropped by 0.3 million tons from last year," Sumyot said.

For this year, sales are forecast to rise between $1.33 billion and $1.54 billion compared to $1.32 billion in 2008.

Despite lower production in the first quarter, the company is upbeat that coal production would increase in the coming period.

"Production may climb between 20 and 25 percent next year from about 20.5 million metric tons this year," Somyot said. The firm mined 17.8 million tons of coal in 2008.

The additional output would be secured in part from a new mining site located in the eastern part of the existing Indominco block in Kalimantan, which is expected to enter production in the second half with a capacity of 2 million tons.