Piramal Glass 4Q profit soars amid strong domestic sales, exports

Piramal Glass Ceylon PLC reported robust sales and profits for the three months ended March 2021 (4Q21), amid increased demand for glass containers from industries such as food and beverages and pharmaceutical.

Sri Lanka’s sole glass bottle manufacturer reported sales of Rs.2.57 billion for the quarter under review, up by a robust 52 percent from the same period a year ago. 

The company said the domestic sales rose by 40 percent to Rs.1.76 billion and the exports surged by 82 percent to Rs.804 million from the same period last year. 

The surge in the exports was a result of the company’s relentless push to add new customers into the expansive overseas portfolio, as the company seeks to mitigate fluctuations in demand coming from the existing markets, due to the pandemic. 

In the April-June quarter in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the company said it lost sales worth of Rs.700 million, mainly from domestic clients, as the industrial activity came to a standstill for nearly a month, due to virus-related restrictions. But even that time, the exports held up. 

The company reported earnings of 42 cents a share or Rs.401.7 million for the quarter under review, compared to earnings of 6 cents a share or Rs.58.8 million in the same quarter in 2020. 

For the full year ended March 2021, the company reported earnings of Rs.1.15 a share on total earnings of Rs.1.09 billion, compared to earnings of 41 cents a share or Rs.388.9 million in the previous financial year. 
The annual sales rose by 13.3 percent or by a billion rupees to Rs.8.53 billion. 

On March 30, 2021, PGP Glass Private Limited, a unit of private equity giant Blackstone, acquired 536.3 million shares of Piramal Glass Ceylon, consisting of the entire stake of 56.45 percent held by India’s Piramal Glass Private Limited, at a price of Rs.11.60 per share, as a result of a  share sale and purchase agreement entered in December 2020 between the two parties. 

The Employees’ Provident Fund has a 9.51 percent stake, being Piramal Glass Ceylon’s second largest shareholder.