Piramal Glass hasn’t lost its bottle
View(s):Glass maker Piramal Glass PLC hasn’t lost its bottle yet but is observing the glass half full till its expansion is completed, which will be by end of the second quarter in this financial year. Sanjay Tiwari, the company’s CEO/ Managing Director has said that June 2016 quarter net profit fell 25 per cent to Rs. 110 million from a year ago as it built inventory ahead of a factory closure for an expansion project in its manufacturing plant costing Rs. 3 billion. He has said in his quarterly statement that during the 1Q2017 the company’s main concentration was towards building stocks in preparation for the forthcoming closure of the factory in 2Q17 for capacity enhancement and refurbishment in the plant. As such they had built in-house manufactured stocks for proprietary bottles apart from importing generic bottles.
“Currently the relining of the furnace with an expansion of capacity to 300 tonnes a day, refurbishment and repair work on downstream facility is in progress with enhanced capacity that will grant their customers a better choice of bottles in more exciting designs and shapes.” During the June quarter a substantial portion of the domestic sale was met through imports from its parent company Piramal Glass Ltd India, which eroded profit margins, he has said. The Gross Profit margin for the period under review was at 18 per cent as against 22 per cent in the corresponding quarter previous year. This decrease was contributed by the above said situation and the several unforeseen interruptions in the production processes due to ageing furnace, Mr. Tiwari has said.