H

eavy equipment distributor PT United Tractors (UNTR), a subsidiary of the Astra Group conglomerate, is upbeat about selling up to 9,500 of its flagship Komatsu tractors this year, despite flat sales in the first quarter.

United Tractors sold 2,207 Komatsu tractors in the first three months of the year, the same number sold in the same period last year.

“Last year, the company benefited from our competitor’s supply disruptions due to the [Japanese] tsunami. This year, we’ve just obtained our normal share in the heavy equipment market at 44 percent,” United Tractors finance director Gidion Hasan said on Friday.

The total number of national heavy equipment sales in the first quarter was 5,010, a 22 percent increase from 4,082 recorded in the same period of 2011.

“Our stock is enough to cover a target of selling 9,500 units this year,” said Loudy Ellias, United Tractors marketing, truck operation and forestry contracting director. The company sold 8,467 units of Komatsu last year.

The company announced at a shareholders meeting on Friday that it would disburse dividends amounting Rp 2.37 trillion (US$258.33 million), or 40 percent of the company’s 2011 net profits of Rp 5.9 trillion.

The cash dividends will be equal with the Rp 635 per share price. United Tractors paid interim dividends at Rp 185 per share on Nov. 11 and will pay the remaining amount of Rp 450 per share on May 30.

The company plans to use the remaining funds to support its working capital and future investment.

United Tractors, which also runs a coal-mining business through its subsidiaries, is seeking to acquire two mining areas in Central and East Kalimantan.

Gidion said the company was in the final due-diligence stage, before deciding on the mining sites. “We hope to have a decision within a month.”

United Tractors president director Djoko Pranoto said expansion in mining sector was part of his company’s efforts to become a value- added business.

“United Tractors is included in the parent company’s business line of heavy equipment and energy. We don’t want to merely sell equipment, but we also want to be in the added-value business, including in coal-upgrading technology,” Djoko said.

“We are developing upgrading technology because most coal in our country has low calorie content.”

United Tractors is 59.50 percent owned by PT Astra International (ASII). The company, through its subsidiaries PT Pamapersada Nusantara and PT Tuah Turangga Agung, has six mining concessions, with a total of up to 369 million tons in viable coal reserves in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

In the mining-contracting business, Pamapersada reported a 9 percent increase in coal production, to 21.2 million tons, in the first three months of the year and a 17 percent increase in overburden removals to 196 million bank cubic meter (bcm).

United Tractors also reported a 50 percent increase in coal sales to 1.53 million tons in the first quarter of the year.

“We are also trying to enter the power business, especially in mine-mouth projects,” Djoko said.

United Tractors is also involved in two consortiums bidding for power plant development in Riau and South Sumatra. The company’s consortium failed in its bid for power plant in South Sumatra.

Shares in United Tractors closed at Rp 31,150 apiece on Friday, declining 0.32 percent from Rp 31,250 a day earlier. The shares have risen more than 18 percent so far this year.

—JP/ Raras Cahyafitri