TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Hammered by issues of good corporate governance, coal producer PT Berau Coal Energy Tbk (IDX: BRAU) posted a loss of US$ 179.5 million (Rp 1.75 trillion) last year. President Director of Berau Coal, R.C. Eko Budi Santoso, said last year's loss was primarily due to declining sales, in line with the downward trend in the world market coal.
"Last year our sales dropped 7.2 percent to US$1.53 billion," he said in a written statement to the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), June 2.
Despite the sales decline, the company's cost of sales increased 6.8 percent to $1.02 billion. As a result, last year Berau Coal recorded a gross profit decline of 27.5 percent to $506 million.
Berau spokesman Bintoro Prabowo said that in the first quarter of 2013 the company managed to raise its production volume by 5.3 million tons, a 27 percent year-on-year increase. Meanwhile, the company's average stripping ratio in the first quarter dropped to 8.4 from 10.6 at the end of 2012.
Bumi Plc's, Berau Coal's holding company listed in the London Stock Exchange, also posted a net loss last year, amounting to $2.32 billion, a significant increase from 2011's $337 million net loss.
In 2012, Bumi Plc posted an operations loss of $ 757 million. The year before that, the company still managed to post an operating profit of $276 million.
RIZKI PUSPITA SARI