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ajor heavy equipment distributor PT United Tractors (UNTR) reported flat sales during the first quarter of 2014 as the domestic mining industry '€” its largest business segment '€” remained at the bottom from last year'€™s slowdown.

According to an operational report published on Tuesday, United Tractors sold 1,211 Komatsu units from January until March, around the same amount it recorded during last year'€™s first quarter.

United Tractors vice president director Gidion Hasan attributed the flat sales to the slow mining
business.

For the past few years, mining has accounted for the biggest part of the publicly listed company'€™s portfolio, with more than 40 percent.

However, lower coal-selling prices recorded across the industry resulted in slow mining business and thus affected United Tractors'€™ own operations.

Gidion said that despite the flat sales, United Tractors '€” a subsidiary of diversified conglomerate PT Astra International (ASII) '€” maintained its 42 percent market share in the heavy equipment industry in the first quarter.

'€œFlat sales in the mining sector were compensated by sales in other sectors, such as construction, agribusiness and forestry,'€ he said after United Tractors held its annual general shareholders meeting.

'€œAmong those three, construction posted the highest growth.'€

The operational report revealed that construction made up around 30 percent of total sales in the first three months of this year, whereas it contributed 20 percent to total sales in the first quarter of 2013.

United Tractors president director Djoko Pranoto said that the company hoped to control a market share of 43 percent by year-end, up from 41 percent in 2013, by also focusing on the construction, agribusiness and forestry sectors.

'€œWe are optimistic that we will achieve a sales volume of 4,500 units this year, up slightly from 2013,'€
he added.

United Tractors'€™ report said that it sold 4,203 units last year, down from 6,202 units in 2012.

Besides operating a heavy equipment distribution business, United Tractors currently runs a coal mining business as well.

In the first three months of this year, its coal production volume reached 1.65 million tons, increasing 36.4 percent year-on-year.

Djoko said that the firm eyed a total of 6 million to 7 million tons in production volume in 2014, rising by 43.6 percent to 67.6 percent from last year.

To support this year'€™s business, United Tractors has allocated US$250 million to $300 million as its capital expenditure (capex) funds.

'€œThe funds are generated from our own internal cash and business earnings,'€ Gidion said, adding that the capex did not include funds for future mine acquisitions.

By the end of March, it already spent less than $100 million of the capex, most of which was used to finance its heavy equipment replacements.

United Tractors has not released its first quarter financial results.

According to its 2013 full-year report, it had assets worth Rp 57.36 trillion ($4.97 billion) in December, Rp 21.71 trillion in liabilities and Rp 35.65 trillion in equities.

The Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) shows that United Tractors'€™ share price surged 1.4 percent to Rp 21,900 ($1.9) on Tuesday from the previous day.