The Board of Directors of Piramal Glass Ceylon PLC declared the results for the year ended 31st March 2009.

Addressing the media, Chairman Piramal Glass, Vijay Shah, said that the Company had reported a sales value of Rs 2,936 million as against last year’s sales of Rs 2,014 million, reflecting a growth of 46%.

"As against the profit before tax of Rs 49 million in the previous year, a loss of Rs 261 million has been reported during the year under review, however the company has succeeded in maintaining a 20% GP margin as against 22% of the previous year" Shah said.

CEO and Executive Director Piramal Glass, Sanjay Tiwari said that the company has shown a record turnover growth of 46%, despite the prevailing discouraging global economic environment. "It is indeed a very positive sign to note the Company’s healthy growth not only in the domestic market but also in the export market, where once again we have demonstrated our capability of going global by achieving an encouraging growth of over 110% in export sales as against that of the previous year, with total export sales increasing to around 15% of total revenue, as against the figure of 10% of the previous year".

During the year under review, Piramal Glass exported a total volume of almost 7000 tonnes , consisting of over 25 million bottles, to markets as diverse as India, Australia, Europe and South Africa.

"The product portfolio of our exports too has widened, with the company having made inroads into the food & beverages sectors during the year under review" said Tiwari. The present portfolio for exports consists of liquor, beer, food & soft drinks in varying shades and sizes.

Shah emphasised the fact that this was the Company’s first full year of operation of it’s new plant at Horana. This was a Greenfield Project and had to face several hurdles during its implementation as well as during the first year of it’s operations. "We were able to run at full capacity only after November 2008, yet despite this the Company is now on a very firm footing. The facility is now fully geared with all five lines in operation and is drawing on the full capacity of it’s furnace".

Shah said that the year under review had been an exceptional one from a global economic point of view as well. The high fluctuation in energy rates had increased the cost of production drastically, with Gas prices going up by a further 5%, Furnace Oil prices increasing by 17% and Diesel by a monumental 40%. "These prices stabilized to a certain extent only in the 4th quarter of the financial year, while the CEB unit rate went up by 14% in the month of November 2008 alone, a fact which had a substantial impact on our energy costs".

"It was the high sales volumes that helped the company to retain its operating margins" he said .