Piramal Glass completes challenging FY19...

Piramal Glass Ceylon PLC (PGC) completed yet another challenging year with the highest ever export turnover, a PAT of Rs.346 million and the overall turnover crossing the Rs.7 billion mark. A total revenue achieved for the year was Rs.7,398 million, as against Rs.6,816 million of the previous year. The domestic revenue remained almost at par with previous year at Rs.4,690 million, as against Rs.4,680 million in F18.

Food and liquor segments were mainly affected although a marginal improvement was noted in the fourth quarter, particularly in the liquor segment, mainly due to the seasonal demand. The fourth quarter, which is otherwise always been positive due to the festival season, could not pick up this year due to the political instability in the country. The export market kept its upward momentum with an increase of 27 percent from Rs.2,136 million in F18 to Rs.2,708 million in F19. This growth is attributed to the new markets developed in many countries, namely Malaysia, Africa, Vietnam and Myanmar.

The gross profit during the year dropped from Rs.1422 million in the previous year to Rs.1,406 million in F19, resulting in a lowering of margins from 21 percent to 19 percent.

This subsequently affected the operating profits, which stood at Rs.846 million, as against Rs.869 million of the previous year.

The gross profit during the period under review was severely impacted by the increase in raw material, packing material and transportation costs. The margins further declined due to the increase in the LPG cost by 35 percent and the furnace oil increase by 15 percent.

Whilst the petrol and diesel prices have been linked to the formulae price, the furnace oil price however has not been addressed in a similar manner. Its continuous appeals to the concerned authorities were unattended, thus heavily impacting the profitability and sustainability of exports. It still awaits the government support to implement the linking of furnace oil price to global crude oil rates, which is successfully implemented by all neighbouring countries. The year closed for PGC with a PAT of Rs.346 million as against Rs.344 million of the previous year. However, following the consistent policy of a 50 percent payout ratio, the board of directors has proposed a dividend of 18 percent. As notified by the company, CEO and Managing Director Sanjay Tiwari is transferred to head its manufacturing operations in the USA as Chief Executive Officer of Piramal Glass USA Inc.

Tiwari served PGC PLC for past 13 years and will continue to be in the board of directors overseeing the operations. It is to be noted that PGC attained several milestone under the leadership of Tiwari.

He was instrumental in relocating the plant from Rathmalana to Horana as a BOI venture by tripling the capacity from 100 tonnes per day to 300 tonnes per day, development of the export markets, execution of green initiative rooftop solar project, expansion of the silica processing facility, initiating digital journey in the company called Innohub, manufacturing excellence certification and RTMI. Sanjay Jain has taken over from Tiwari. Jain, a mechanical engineer, has experience of over 29 years in marketing and manufacturing.

Jain is associated with the group for over 10 years and his last assignment with the parent group was as Vice President Marketing, with the global responsibility of sales and marketing for food and pharmaceutical glass business.