Foreign fund in Piramal’ top shareholder list; company set to expand in two years’ time
View(s):Foreign fund, Forward International Dividend Fund has become the fourth largest shareholder in Piramal Glass Ceylon PLC, which is planning to expand in two years’ time, according to officials.
Forward International Dividend Fund is an open-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Forward Management, LLC. It invests in public equity markets across the globe.
Having disposed of part of its 21-acre land in Ratmalana to Prime Lands during June, Sanjay Tiwari, CEO, Piramal Glass told the Business Times that it was an investment property. “We sold 10 acres for Rs 355 million,” he said.
The selling price per perch was recorded as Rs 222,000 whilst the cost per perch (at the time they purchased this land) was Rs 37,000. The company announced its plan on disposing the balance 11 acres to Ideal Motors for Rs 415 million during November this year. The expected profit from this transaction is some Rs 351 million and the entire proceeds will be utilized to retire part of Piramal’s debt, according to analysts. Piramal realised Rs 297 million profit for the first quarter of this financial year.
Mr. Tiwari said that the company’s expansion will be done in two years’ time. “We will expand in two years,” he said, adding that Piramal Glass has plans to increase export foothold this year. He said they expect to expand to high margin yielding coloured bottles segment. Piramal is the only manufacturer of glass bottles in the country and caters to the food and beverages, cosmetics, perfumery and pharmaceutical industries.
Piramal’s revenue witnessed a drop of 5 per cent in the first quarter of this financial year mainly owing to the escalated demand in the liquor and aerated water segment coupled with the sharp decline in export sales, according to the company’s financials.
Export sales weakened at a faster rate, analysts said, adding that the export market is mainly centralised with India which accounts more than half of its export revenue, analysts said.
“With the devaluation of Indian rupee, exports to India have become quite competitive while experiencing a drop in sales volume,” an analyst said. He said that domestic sales which approximately account for 75 per cent of total revenue also witnessed a marginal drop of 2 per cent from Rs 932 million to Rs 916 million due to the low demand from the liquor segment.
“The local liquor sector which registers more than 50 per cent of the total domestic sales of the company seems stagnant with the imposed taxes, affecting negatively towards the demand for glass bottles from Piramal’s top customers such as Distilleries Lanka PLC, ID Lanka Ltd, Rockland Distilleries Ltd, Lion Brewery PLC, etc,” he added.
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