Banpu to invest more in power business

Banpu plans to invest more in the power business to boost profit contribution from this area to between 30-40 per cent of total net profit from the present 20 per cent, and to deal with the volatile global price of coal, its president Chanin Vongkusol said.

The company will focus on investing more in the electricity business in Thailand and its neighbouring countries.

Average capacity

Its average production capacity of coal until 2015 is expected to expand 10-11 per cent. This year, Banpu is targeting production of about 48 million tonnes of coal, up by 4.2 million tonnes from last year. The total production in 2014 is expected to surge to 54.2 million tonnes and 57.3 million tonnes in 2015.

Chanin said that despite the signs of improving coal price this year, Banpu still exercised caution and remained focused on strengthening its core business and growing its business from its existing assets.

He added that last year was challenging for coal businesses worldwide due to the 20-per-cent decline in the price of low-heat yielding coals following the increase in coal exports from the US and the increasing use of natural gas to produce electricity in the US.

He said that Banpu last year focused on improving its cost management efficiency and boosting production capacity efficiency of its coal sources in Indonesia and Australia as well as trimming some corporate costs, to deal with the flagging coal price.

Banpu's share price yesterday closed at Bt384, up 1.05 per cent.