Sunday Dec 15, 2024
Sunday Dec 15, 2024
Thursday, 15 February 2018 00:54 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
For the nine months ended 31 December 2017, the overall turnover of Piramala Glass Ceylon Plc was on par with the previous year’s sales of Rs. 5 billion mark. The domestic sale for the period was Rs. 3.375 billion as against the previous year’s Rs. 4.065 billion depicting a drop of 17%, whilst the export market showed a growth of 70% from 959 million in the previous year to Rs. 1.627 billion as at 31 December 2017.
The domestic sale for the quarter under review was Rs. 1.256 billion as against Rs. 1.563 billion of the previous years, which reflected a 20% drop in sales whilst the exports showed a commendable growth of 75% from Rs. 416 million to Rs. 729 million. The dip felt in the overall domestic market since the beginning of the year did not recover during the quarter under review. Due to the increase in levies and taxes, the final products are becoming more expensive. This results in a decline in consumer demand, which ultimately reflects in the reduction of sales in the Food, Beverage & Liquor Segments. Added to this, the impact of extreme weather conditions impacted the sales in the virgin coconut oil and agrochemicals segments.
The management has tried its best to channel the extra capacity towards the export market, to bridge the gap due to the loss of domestic volumes. The sales to the US, Canada, Australia and neighbouring markets showed exceptional increase, which partly helped to shorten the gap. Piramal Glass Ceylon is focusing on developing these potential markets, to contract the incremental capacity added in the year 2016/17.
The gross profit (GP) for the nine months ended 31 December 2017 grew from Rs. 934 million to Rs. 1.039 billion, thus crossing the 1 billion mark. This is an improvement of the GP margin from 18% to 21%. The operating profit too showed a marked improvement of Rs. 595 million as against Rs. 448 million of the previous year. Yet the PBT remained static at Rs. 351 million, due to the increased finance cost incurred for the long-term loan.
The incremental operational profit margin improvement was possible due to the reduction of trading sales. With the new facility now well-stabilised, the domestic market is being supplied mainly with in-house manufactured bottles, which has replaced the imported bottles. Last year, due to capacity constraints, a considerable portion of the sale was done through imports. Piramal Glass Ceylon (PGC) (formerly Ceylon Glass Company) is the only glass bottle manufacturing plant in Sri Lanka. It had the opportunity of coming under the umbrella of the Piramal Group in 1999. Presently located in Horana, it has been in existence for over 55 years. The company, originally at Ratmalana, was relocated at Horana in 2007 as a BOI venture. PGC at its manufacturing facility has the capability to offer glass containers in different shapes and colours for multiple industries, such as food, liquor, pharmaceutical, agrochemicals and soft drinks.
The Piramal Group, led by Ajay G. Piramal, is one of India’s foremost business conglomerates. Driven by the core values of knowledge, action, care and impact, the Piramal Group has a formidable presence in healthcare, drug discovery & research, glass, real estate and financial services. The Piramal Group also pursues sustained community activities in healthcare, education, emergency medical services, and heritage restoration.
