Piramal Glass Ceylon PLC has announced its results for the 1st Quarter of FY 2018-19 with Rs. 1,649 million of revenue with Rs. 86 million of profit before tax.
The revenue during the 1st three months of FY2018-19 was Rs. 1,649 million, which reflects a growth of was 17.5% when compared to the similar period of previous year revenue of Rs. 1,403 Mn.
Domestic Market :
The Domestic sale stood at Rs. 1,016 million as against Rs. 1,084 Million of the similar quarter of the previous year, reflecting a de-growth of 8%. This decline has continued in the domestic market for the 2nd consecutive year. The major impact came thru the liquor segment. Over the past two years a shift of consumption was observed from the high end locally filled foreign liquor segment to the low end liquor. This was further aggravated with the heavy taxes imposed on the liquor industry.
The high end liquor segment of the industry uses the new bottles whilst the low end uses the used scrapped bottles. Thus this shift has impacted the demand of fresh bottles.
The company has entered into the retail segment with the launch of glass bottles within the category of food & water. Several innovative designs and options are now available for house hold consumption. Currently the products are available at
- The factory outlet of the company at Rathmalana,
- ARPICO super centers (20+ Outlets island wide)
- The Outlet Store – Bambalapitiya
- St. Anthony’s Home mart – Nawala
- DN Enterprises – Maharagama
- Zden – Colombo 4
- Assena Marikar & Co. – Colombo 11
- E-commerce sites
- Mydeal.lk
- Wow.lk
- Takas.lk
This has opened an avenue for a new category of business. This venture is to support the worldwide green initiative of protecting the environment & for the wellbeing of our future generation by providing alternative to plastics & PET.
Exports
The Export sales for the quarter grew by 98% to Rs. 633 million as against the Rs. 319 million in the similar quarter. This is 39% of the overall sales value as against 23% in the previous year 1st Quarter. The company did its best to fill the excess capacity created with the decline in the domestic market thru exports. Most of the orders obtained at short notice from the mass market as capacity fillers did not yield the same attractive margins as the domestic & high niche segment of the exports.
The company continuously strives towards gradually shifting the volumes from the mass market to the premium segment.
Presently company is exporting to USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India, Pakistan, Myanmar & several other markets. A significant growth has been experienced in the USA & Canadian markets
Cost Escalation
Gross profit for the period under review is Rs. 286 Mn as against Rs. 351 Mn in the corresponding period previous year. Whilst product mix being one of the reasons for low margins the other factors were the energy costs & other input cost increases.
The LPG rate was an all-time high for the past 3 years. Diesel rate increase by Rs. 24/= per litre impacted the cost of production in several fronts including increases in raw material prices , packing material cost & transportation costs .Investment & Expansion
The final phase of the capacity expansion project is likely to be completed with the installation of the 6th production line, by the end of the current financial year. The total additional investment for this project will be Rs. 1Bn. This investment will facilitate the company to utilise its installed capacity to maximum.
With the successful installation of 3MW rooftop solar power plant which is the largest single location installation in the country, the company is further exploring various alternatives to bring down the energy cost which is the major cost component in glass manufacture. In this regard the company is seeking support & approvals from the relevant regulatory authorities.
During the period under review the company upgraded its existing ERP system by implemented SAP HANA 4. The management hopes to have more efficient work environment & timely information for decision making.
