Antam, Vale back on their feet due to increased sales volume – by Raras Cahyafitri (Jakarta Post – May 01 2013)

http://www.thejakartapost.com/

Listed nickel miners PT Aneka Tambang and PT Vale Indonesia are reporting increased net profits in the first quarter of the year due to higher sales volumes offsetting price pressure.

Aneka Tambang (Antam) reported booking Rp 462.43 billion (US$47 million) in net profits in the first three months of the year, up from Rp 379.19 billion in the same period last year, while Vale recorded $31.5 million in net profits, up 728 percent from $3.8 million.

“In the first quarter, our export volume of nickel ore increased and gold sales also rose, although their prices were almost similar to last year,” outgoing Antam president director Alwinsyah Lubis said after the company’s annual general meeting of shareholders on Tuesday.

Antam also reported that its sales volume for gold in the first quarter was up 63 percent to 93,526 troy ounces. Meanwhile, the firm’s gold sales were Rp 1.55 trillion, up 71 percent year-on-year, contributing 46.5 percent to Antam’s total revenues of Rp 3.34 trillion during the January-to-March period, up 35.5 percent from Rp 2.46 trillion in the same period last year.

Antam’s sales of nickel ore contributed about 33 percent of toal revenues, or Rp 1.12 trillion in the first three months of the year, up 67 percent compared to Rp 662 billion year-on-year, according to the company’s financial report.

The firm’s nickel ore sales volume were up 49 percent to 2.64 million wet metric tons (Wmt) in the first quarter, compared to 1.77 Wmt year-on-year.

Antam also reported ferronickel sales of Rp 595.45 billion, about 18 percent of total revenue, down 23 percent from Rp 774.4 billion during the January-to-March period last year, while ferronickel sales volumes were 14 percent lower, dipping to 3,784 tons of nickel (TNi) in the first quarter, compared to the same period year-on-year.

Antam finance director Djaja Tambunan said that the company would implement measures to manage costs, as it remained uncertain on commodities prices, which have been affected by weakness in the global economy.

According to Djaja, Antam nickel ore and ferronickel sales each typically comprised a third of the company’s revenue, while sales of gold and other mining products comprised the remaining one-third. However, the company said it wanted to boost the contribution of other mining products to its revenue, as the government plans to implement a ban raw on material exports, including iron ore exports, in 2014.

During its meeting on Tuesday, Antam’s shareholders approved changes in the company’s board of directors, appointing Tato Miraza — previously development director — to replace Alwinsyah as president director.

Tato will be accompanied by Hendra Santika, Djaja Tambunan, Tedy Badrujaman, Sutikno and I Made Surata as directors. Only Tato and Djaja are from the previous board while others are new appointments.

Separately, mining company PT Vale Indonesia (INCO) was also uncertain about the outlook for nickel prices, although the company reported a higher average selling price in the first quarter of 2013 compared to the same period last year.

Vale’s average selling price of nickel matte was $13,673 per metric tons in the first three months of the year, declining around 14 percent compared to $15,470 per metric ton year-on-year.

Vale’s nickel matte deliveries reached 18,899 metric tons during the January-to-March period, up 48 percent compared to the same period last year.

Higher deliveries offset a declining average selling price, pushing Vale’s revenue to $258.41 million in the first three months of the year, up around 31 percent compared to $196.96 million year-on-year.

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