Goa Carbon to merge Paradeep Carbon with self
http://indiainfoline.com/news/news.asp?dat=56321
The Board of Directors of Goa Carbon Ltd., a part of the Dempo Group, and the second largest manufacturer of Calcined Petroleum Coke (CPC) in the country, at its meeting held on March 26, decided to merge Paradeep Carbons Ltd. (100% subsidiary) with itself, subject to the requisite approvals.
Goa Carbon is back in the black after a spell of losses in the previous three quarters. There were quite a few factors that affected the Company's performance all this while, said Goa Carbon. Most notably among them was a steep increase in FOB price and ocean freight of raw petroleum coke - the main raw material for CPC, it added.
Goa Carbon reported a net profit of Rs16.21mn for the third quarter of the current fiscal year compared to a loss of Rs1.47mn in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. At Rs200.94mn, sales were 32.05% lower than Rs295.74mn recorded in the year-ago quarter.
Meanwhile, Paradeep Carbon reported a small profit of Rs4.74mn in the third-quarter ended December 31, 2004 on sales of Rs261.5mn. But for the nine-month period up to December 31, 2004 it reported a loss of Rs35.61mn on sales of Rs566.4mn.
Paradeep Carbon, however, managed to improve capacity utilisation at its plant, leading to better efficiencies, said Goa Carbon. Orders - trial as well as concrete - also started to flow in and should reflect well on the financials in the future, it added.
Commenting on the proposed merger, Shrinivas Dempo, Executive Chairman, Goa Carbon, struck an optimistic note: "During 2003-04, we consolidated our position in the CPC industry. Our well-timed acquisitions helped us meet growing demand. As Paradeep Carbon's performance has stabilised, we feel that it is the right time for the merger. It will help consolidate our operations further and achieve better economies of scale. We are now looking forward to raising capacities further at all the three locations and become the largest player in the CPC business in India."
With the business looking up once again, the Company Goa Carbon intends to modernise its three plants and expand the capacity at the Paradeep Carbon facility to provide products of better quality at a lower cost. The modernisation will also help in making the operations more efficient, thus lowering the cost of the final product, and making the Company more competitive in the market - both local as well as global, said Goa Carbon.
The quality of Goa Carbon's and Paradeep Carbon's products has been well accepted by end users both in India and overseas. Some of the domestic customers include NALCO, Hindalco, INDAL, MALCO, BALCO, etc.
Apart from French aluminium major Pechiney, with whom the Company has a long-term supply agreement, Goa Carbon exports CPC to countries like Australia, Egypt, Dubai, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, Russia, Wales and England.
