United Tractors’ sales up slightly as of May

Publicly-listed heavy equipment provider PT United Tractors (UNTR) reported a slight increase in units sold during the first five months of the year.

The company sold 772 units of Komatsu-branded heavy equipment last May, increasing by about 25 percent from 617 units in May 2011, according to UNTR investor relations Ari Setiyawan.

However, the company’s sales of 749 units in April, which was a 2 percent drop from 767 units in April last year, contributed to the slight increase in total sales after a stagnant sales volume in the first quarter of the year.

UNTR’s total sales stood at 3,728 units during January to May period, rising only about 4 percent from 3,591 units during the same period last year.

“Sometimes, monthly sales cannot reflect the entire performance. Because sales in May were from previous months,” Ari said on Friday.

Most of the sales were to mining industries.

UNTR is aiming to sell around 9,500 units of heavy equipment by the year end, around a 12 percent
increase compared to 8,467 units last year.

Ari said that the company’s market shares stood at 44 percent as of April. Shares in UNTR closed at Rp 23,500 (US$2.5) on Friday, a slight 0.21 percent increase compared to Rp 23,450 a piece a day earlier.

UNTR is 59.50 percent owned by diversified conglomerate PT Astra International. The company is also entering the coal mining business through its subsidiary PT Pamapersada Nusantara and PT Tuah Turangga Agung, which together have six mining concessions in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

According to a file submitted to UNTR’s website, the company reported coal production of 29 million metric tons during January to April period, increasing by 13 percent from 25.5 metric tons in the same period of the year. Coal sales reached 1.95 million tons in the first four months of the year, surging 37 percent from 1.42 million in the same period last year.

The overburden removal business saw an about 17 percent increase to 267.5 million bank cubic meter (bcm) in the first four months of the year from 226.9 million bcm in the same period last year.

The company is expecting that coal production will reach 95 million metric tons this year, up about 10 percent from 86.8 million metric tons last year. Coal sales are expected to reach 6 million metric tons this year, about a 33 percent increase from 4.5 million metric tons coal sold in 2011.

In overburden removal, UNTR is targeting Pamapersada to deliver at around 870 million bcm by the year end, a 10 percent increase from 791.7 million bcm last year.

UNTR announced on Thursday that it completed acquisition of 100 percent stake in PT Perkasa Melati, a company working in ship building business. The acquisition is expected to support UNTR’s 99.9 percent owned subsidiary PT United Tractors Pandu Engineering business in coal transportation.

— JP/Raras Cahyafitri