BANGKOK, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Thailand's top coal miner Banpu Pcl BANPU.BK aims to buy at least one coal mine near its existing operations at Kalimantan in Indonesia later this year in a bid to save costs and boost earnings growth, it said on Thursday.
Banpu, which has coal mines in Indonesia, Australia and China and had diversified into the power business, planned to invest $390 million in 2016, mostly for its Hongsa coal-fired power plant in Laos, Chief Executive Somruedee Chaimongkol told reporters.
Banpu expected to return to net profit this year due to rising profits from the 40 percent-owned Hongsa power plant, which will be fully operational in March, she said. The firm posted a net loss of 1.5 billion baht ($42.06 million) in 2015, hit by weaker coal prices.
It expected to book profit of $70 million from the 1800-megawatt Hongsa power plant in 2016, Somruedee said.
The firm is targetting coal output of 46.1 million tonnes this year, mostly from Indonesian mines, while coal prices have bottomed out and are expected to recover, she said adding global prices had risen to $52 a tonne from an average $49 last year.
Coal contributed about 90 percent of 2015 sales and 50 percent of profit, with the rest from the power business. The power business is expected to generate more cash flow to 30-35 percent of core earnings this year from 20 percent last year, she said.
Last week, Banpu said it aimed to boost power generating capacity to 4,300 megawatts by the end of 2025, of which 20 percent will be renewables. = 35.6600 baht)