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ajor petroleum and chemical distributor PT AKR Corporindo (AKR) is expecting up to 20 percent growth in sales and revenue this year to reach as much as Rp 26 trillion (US$2.678 billion), supported by its thriving fuel business.

AKR president director Haryanto Adikoesoemo is optimistic due to its distribution of subsidized fuel.

Last November, AKR, along with PT Surya Parna Niaga, was appointed by downstream oil and gas regulator BPH Migas to be the distributor of subsidized fuel in areas outside Java and Bali in 2013.

AKR received an allocation of 267,892 kiloliters of subsidized fuel, up 160 percent from 2012. Meanwhile, PT Surya Parna Niaga, received a quota of around 119,150 kiloliters.

Haryanto said that BPH Migas is keeping another 612,958 kiloliters in reserve in case there is increasing demand. He said the company is lobbying BPH Migas to win the remaining fuel.

'€œWe have submitted a request to BPH Migas to distribute the rest of the quota. If granted, we are optimistic that we will be able to exceed the [growth] target,'€ he said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

AKR has constructed 16 new fuel stations to support the distribution of the subsidized fuel. In total, the company now operates 47 fuel stations in East Kalimantan, Lampung, North Sumatra, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi and West Kalimantan.

Fuel is the dominant growth engine for the company, making up 70 to 80 percent of its revenues.

Besides fuel, the publicly listed AKR has business in basic chemical distribution, Sorbitol manufacturing and starch derivatives, logistics, coal mining and trading.

AKR currently has one coal mine in North Barito regency, Central Kalimantan province. All of its coal products are exported to China.

In the first quarter of 2013, its production volume stood at 83,800 tons, a 52.6 percent rise from the same period last year.

It is looking to increase the volume to 335,200 tons by year end.

AKR chief financial officer Suresh Vembu said that the company would construct a river port in
Teluk Timbau in South Barito regency this year to facilitate its coal trans-shipment.

It also plans to begin the sale of its Gresik industrial estate in July. Along with state-owned port operator Pelindo III, AKR is now developing a megaproject, called the Java Integrated Industrial and Port Estate (JIIPE), in Gresik, East Java.

JIIPE, worth between Rp 7 trillion and Rp 8 trillion, will consist of an industrial estate, a port and other supporting facilities, such as a toll road and railroad connections. The project is estimated to be completed by 2023.

Both the industrial estate and port will be built simultaneously on a 2,500-hectare plot of land. The industrial estate will take up about 2,000 hectares, while the port will occupy 250 hectares of land.

Meanwhile, according to its first quarter financial report, AKR'€™s revenues surged 5.8 percent to Rp 5.44 trillion and its net profits rose by 5.3 percent to Rp 157.6 billion from a year before. As of March, its total assets stood at Rp 11.49 trillion, while its liabilities and equities amounted to Rp 7.12 trillion and Rp 4.37 trillion, respectively.

On Tuesday, the company announced that it would pay Rp 97.02 billion in final dividends for fiscal year 2012. The figure is equal to Rp 25 per share. Along with its interim dividends, which was paid in January, the total dividend payments amount to Rp 251.07 billion or 38.7 percent of its 2012 net profits. No date has been set for the payment.

AKR'€™s shares, sold under the code '€œAKRA'€, ended at Rp 5,350 on Tuesday, unchanged from the previous day.