Century Plyboards (I) Ltd, the country’s largest plywood and veneer manufacturer, on Thursday reported a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 111.67 crore on gross sales of Rs 1001.45 crore for the year to March 31, 2008, against a consolidated PAT of Rs 103.15 crore on gross sales of Rs 715.75 crore for the preceding year.
Managing director Sajjan Bhajanka said the turnover and profit growth was powered by its cement business, a 70:30 venture with minority partners.
This venture, Cement Manufacturing Co, accounted for Rs 30 crore in the total PAT (before minority interest) of Rs 141.68 crore for the latest year.
“It was a big step for the company to cross the Rs 1000-crore mark,” Bhajanka said. “All the segments have performed exceptionally well.”
Bhajanka said the company has acquired licenses for opening the country’s largest plywood factory at Hoshiarpur in Punjab, which will be operational by this year. Another plywood factory is coming up at Guwahati in Assam. Once completed, these will put Century even further ahead of rivals like Greenply.
Century’s cement production capacity is expected to reach 4 million tonne a year by March 2010 from 1m tonne now, putting it among the top ten manufacturers in the highly fragmented Indian cement industry, he said.
Century has also forayed into logistics, winning bids to set up two container freight stations in Kolkata Port Trust. The first CFS will be operational this July and the second by February next year.
Meanwhile, Century has invited SB Ganguly, the former chairman of battery major Exide, to join its board as chairman. The post has been given up by the promoter family.
“Under the new rules, we would have had to raise the board strength to 20 if we had kept a promoter as chairman,” Bhajanka said. “By inducting an outsider, we don’t have to increase the board strength.”