Bumi Q1 net profit up 16.5 pct on higher coal price

Bumi Resources, Asia's biggest thermal coal exporter, said on Friday its first-quarter 2011 net profit rose 16.5 percent as higher coal prices made up for lower output.

Bumi, controlled by the politically-connected Bakrie family and part-owned by Nathaniel Rothschild's mining investment vehicle Vallar , said its first-quarter net profit rose to $113 million from $97 million a year ago, based on Indonesian accounting principles that were meant to end in 2010.

First-quarter revenue grew 21 percent to $1.23 billion, compared with revenue of $1.02 billion in the year-ago period, said Dileep Srivastava, a Bumi director, in an emailed statement.

Analysts forecast Bumi's 2011 net profit to reach $498 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Strong demand from Asian economies including India, Japan and China has lifted the price Bumi gets for its coal for power stations, but production fell in the first quarter due to heavy rainfall near its main mines in Kalimantan.

Bumi expects to produce 67 million tonnes of coal this year, up about 10 percent from 2010.

Shares in Bumi gained more than 11 percent in the first quarter to outperform a Jakarta index up around 3.2 percent in the same period. Source: Reuters