When running APM without parameters it works great and gives the battery status.

strace apm -s gives me:

execve("/usr/bin/apm", ["apm", "-s"], [/* 31 vars */]) = 0
brk(0)                                  = 0x804b480
old_mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x40016000
open("/etc/ld.so.preload", O_RDONLY)    = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY)      = 3
fstat64(0x3, 0xbfffed74)                = 0
old_mmap(NULL, 69339, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x40017000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/lib/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY)        = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\264\323"..., 1024) = 1024
fstat64(0x3, 0xbfffedbc)                = 0
old_mmap(NULL, 1116516, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x40028000
mprotect(0x4012f000, 39268, PROT_NONE)  = 0
old_mmap(0x4012f000, 24576, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED, 3, 0x106000) = 0x4012f000
old_mmap(0x40135000, 14692, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x40135000
close(3)                                = 0
munmap(0x40017000, 69339)               = 0
getpid()                                = 843
access("/proc/apm", R_OK)               = 0
brk(0)                                  = 0x804b480
brk(0x804b600)                          = 0x804b600
brk(0x804c000)                          = 0x804c000
open("/proc/apm", O_RDONLY)             = 3
fstat64(0x3, 0xbffff5fc)                = 0
old_mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x40017000
read(3, "1.14 1.2 0x03 0x01 0x00 0x01 100"..., 4096) = 42
close(3)                                = 0
munmap(0x40017000, 4096)                = 0
access("/proc/apm", R_OK)               = 0
open("/proc/apm", O_RDONLY)             = 3
fstat64(0x3, 0xbffff5ac)                = 0
old_mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x40017000
read(3, "1.14 1.2 0x03 0x01 0x00 0x01 100"..., 4096) = 42
close(3)                                = 0
munmap(0x40017000, 4096)                = 0
open("/dev/apm_bios", O_RDWR)           = 3
time([1001935391])                      = 1001935391
sync()                                  = 0
ioctl(3, APM_IOC_SUSPEND, 0)            = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
write(2, "apm: Resource temporarily unavai"..., 38apm: Resource temporarily unavailable
) = 38
close(3)                                = 0
_exit(0)                                = ?