Press Release
84th Annual General Meeting
The Tinplate Company Of India Limited (TCIL) held
its 84th Annual General Meeting at the Williamson Magor Hall of The Bengal Chamber of
Commerce & Industries on 26th July 2003 in Kolkata. Addressing the shareholders, the
Chairman Mr Shashi Prasad highlighted the improvements achieved during FY 2002-03.
He mentioned that the various strategies,
especially focused towards customers, markets and operational improvements have started
yielding results as summarized below:
| |
Q1 02-03
|
Q1 03-04 |
| ETP Production (MT) |
25,587 |
30,591 |
| ETP Sales (MT) |
29,137 |
31,598 |
| Gross Profits (Rs Crs) |
14.45 |
18.67 |
| Net Profits (Rs Crs) |
0.30 |
3.02 |
Initiatives to drive operational excellence
across the company have resulted in the company's Cold Rolling Mill and Electrolytic
Tinplate Plant (ETP) achieving capacity utilization of over 125% and 126% respectively.
Gross Profit (PBDIT) at Rs 60.30 Crs and Cash
Profit (PBDT) at Rs 28.67 Crs were highest ever in its more than 80-year-old history for
the third year in succession.
TCIL earned net profit of Rs 2.02 Crs during FY
2002-03 (Rs 1.02 Crs in FY 2001-02) despite high costs on account of depreciation,
interest and amortization costs. This is the second year in succession that the company
has achieved a net profit position after incurring heavy losses for 5 consecutive years
during 1996-2001.
The company's long term position on exports
(exports are now at over 25% of production) provides an opportunity to compete with the
best in the world.
Efforts towards reducing the debt servicing
burden resulted in interest costs being lower by over Rs 3 Crs during FY 2002-03 compared
to previous year.
Mr Prasad informed the shareholders that trading
conditions were difficult during the year along with a sharp increase in input costs.
Despite this and mainly on account of successes achieved in operational improvements and
reduction in interest costs, TCIL continues to deliver a positive profit after tax
position.
By end of FY 2002-03, the company also placed Rs
70 Crs of Non-Convertible Debentures, which were fully utilized for prepayment of high
cost debts. During the 1st quarter of FY 2003-04, the company has been able to further
reduce interest rates on its existing loan portfolio.
The Chairman informed that improvement in
operations continues to be achieved through a series of well orchestrated continuous
improvement programs, which is setting a platform for a step-change in profitability in
the near future.
Renewed robustness in the company's performance
was visible from the results of 1st quarter FY 2003-04, which were approved by the
company's Board at its meeting held earlier during the day. During the quarter, the
company earned a net profit of approx. Rs 3.02 Crs compared to Rs 0.30 Crs, earned during
the corresponding period last year.
TCIL is initiating a 2-stage capacity enhancement
plan at an estimated cost of Rs 36 Crs, to be funded internally, to augment ETP capacity
to 145,000 tons per annum within 2 years.
As a step towards re-casting the Balance Sheet,
the company has obtained shareholders' approval for setting-off the existing Share Premium
Account against accumulated losses (Rs 140 Crs as on 31st Mar 2003). This will bring down
accumulated losses to approx. Rs 65 Crs.
The Chairman sounded optimistic about TCIL's
performance during years to come. |
