Coal miners PT Borneo Lumbung Energi & Metal (BORN) and PT Bara Jaya International (ATPK) may have their stocks delisted for failing to demonstrate a healthy business operation.

“Both companies have also been suspended for almost 24 months, so we’re considering delisting them,” IDX assessment director I Gede Nyoman Yetna told the press last week.

Coal miner Borneo Lumbung Energi, known to produce hard coking premium coal, was owned by businessman Samin Tan who was named a suspect early this year by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for allegedly bribing then-House of Representatives member Eni Maulani Saragih.

The bribe was reportedly aimed to facilitate Borneo Lumbung’s subsidiary, PT Asmin Koalindo Tuhup (AKT), to get a new contract of work (CoW) for its mine in Central Kalimantan.

But it was not the first legal problem the company had faced. In 2017, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry revoked AKT’s contract of work after it used the CoW as collateral for a bank loan. As a result, the firm could not produce any coal and, as of the third quarter of 2018, the company’s revenue plummeted by 89.07 percent year-on-year (yoy).

These cases have driven the bourse to suspend Borneo Lumbung Energi’s stock since June 2016.

Bara Jaya International is also facing imminent delisting as its stock has been suspended since July 2018. The suspension, Nyoman said, was caused by the company’s inability to submit a business plan in the near future, which could affect the company’s ability to book revenue in the future.

Moreover, the company had yet to produce and sell any coal as of the first quarter of this year due to the current low price for low calorie coal. However, Bara Jaya International corporate secretary Andreas Andy told Kontan recently that the company only relied on short-term contracts or spot-based sales.

As a result, the company did not book any revenue during the 2019 January to March period, a stark contrast to its first quarter revenue of Rp 19.11 billion (US$1.35 million) in 2018.

Before the stock exchange decides to kick them out, the bourse will assess their performance for the last time. This means the 24-month suspension period will not automatically end with delisting.

Nyoman said the bourse would closely monitor them before deciding whether they should delist their stocks while giving them a chance to improve their businesses.

“If they fail to show any intention to improve their business, we’ll have no other choice than to delist them,” he said.

Such a stern statement was not just a bluff because last week, the bourse delisted PT Sekawan Intipratama (SIAP) for failing to show any improvement after being suspended for 44 months. It was the first company to be removed from the IDX this year.

Although being delisted from the bourse might seem like a bad thing, Publicly Listed Companies Association (AEI) executive director Samsul Hidayat said on Tuesday that it could present a good opportunity for them.

“Being delisted means that they can be more flexible in restructuring their businesses without having to adhere to the bourse’s rules and regulations,” he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday via phone, adding that they could also relist their shares once their businesses had improved.

He also said that even though the bourse decided to kick the companies out of the IDX’s board-listed companies, they still fulfill their responsibilities to their public shareholders including paying out dividends, giving explanations on the companies’ performance and giving them the right to vote in the general shareholders meeting.

At the same time, they would also have to submit their financial statements to the Financial Services Authority (OJK) as they were still public entities until they decided to go private.

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