Piramal Glass Ceylon suffers Rs. 44 m loss in COVID-hit 1Q

Piramal Glass Ceylon PLC yesterday announced its results for the 1st Quarter of FY 2020-21 with Rs. 1,330 million of revenue and a loss of Rs. 44 million, as against the revenue of Rs. 1,585 million and profit of Rs. 21 million during the similar period of the previous year. 

 “We are facing the most unprecedented times in the history of mankind and perhaps definitely in our life times with the onset of the worst global pandemic – coronavirus disease (COVID-19). It has affected all countries and communities in the world with no concrete solution in sight as either a vaccine or medication,” said Piramal Glass CEO Sanjay Jain. 

He said the financial year commenced at the time when the country was passing through a complete lockdown situation. All production lines came to a standstill from 20 March. The Company was able to resume partial operations from 17 April post-approval by the Central COVID Committee. 

The Company commenced operations in a phased out manner and was back to 100% operations by the third week of May 2020, resulting in a loss of sales revenue of Rs. 700 million.

Domestic market: During the months of April and May 2020, sales were subdued as customers who were manufacturing only essential products were functioning and that too at just 50% capacity. From June 2020, the domestic market demand stabilised and international markets opened up for business. The Domestic sale stood at Rs. 938 million as against Rs. 1,162 million of the similar quarter of the previous year, reflecting a de-growth of 19%.

Exports: Non-availability of vessels for India, USA and East Africa impacted export performance, but at the same time a spurt in demand for food jars from Australia and New Zealand helped to compensate. The export sales for the quarter were almost at par at Rs. 393 million as against Rs. 396 million during the corresponding quarter of last year.

Gross profit for the period under review is Rs. 110 million as against Rs. 240 million in the corresponding period of the previous year. Even though production was stopped from 20 March, the company continued to incur fixed energy and labour costs in order to keep the furnaces alive during the period under review. 

The management firmly believes that with the New Product Development and inroads into new markets such as Mexico, Angola and Indonesia as well as the increased demand from Australia, PGC will be able to sustain the ongoing operations profitably. “We are witnessing a global surge in demand for glass containers in the Food and Pharmaceutical category; due to which PGC is poised to retain the volumes in domestic and international markets and continue the growth trajectory.”

Piramal Glass Ceylon (formerly Ceylon Glass Company) is the only glass bottle manufacturing plant in Sri Lanka. It had the opportunity of coming under the umbrella of Piramal Group in 1999. Presently located in Horana, it has been in existence for over 60 years. The company originally at Ratmalana was relocated at Horana in 2007 as a BOI venture. PGC at its manufacturing facility has the capability to offer glass containers in different shapes and colours for multiple industries such as food, liquor, pharmaceuticals, agro chemicals and soft drinks.