Atul Ltd 2012-13

Atul Ltd | Annual Report 2012-13 Dear Shareholders, As a company founded by a legendary Indian, Mr Kasturbhai Lalbhai, Atul has a rich legacy characterised by ethics, discipline, perseverance, excellence and larger purpose. With this awareness, we pursued our tasks passionately and imposed a demand on ourselves to enhance the current performance of our Company and build new foundations for its sustainable and purposeful future. World GDP at US$ 72 tn in 2012, grew by about 3.2% (4.0% in 2011) driven mainly by the USA and China in terms of increase in absolute value and China, India and Indonesia in terms of growth rate. The GDP of India at US$ 1.8 tn in 2012-13 grew by 5.1% (6.9% in 2011-12), that of the USA at US$ 15.7 tn grew by 2.2% in 2012 (1.8% in 2011) and that of Euro Area at US$ 12.2 tn declined by 0.6% in 2012 (+1.4% in 2011). World Chemical Industry , with a size of US$ 3.4 tn in 2011 grew by about 3.3% in 2012 (4.8% in 2011). Chemical Industry of India at US$ 83 bn in 2011 grew only by 6% in 2012 (7% in 2011) despite immense potential. We reaffirm our resolve to grow our Company bigger and better and will persevere in our own small way to reclaim a promising future for India. Our Company has delivered improved results for 2012- 13 as under: ¾ Sales increased from ` 1,746 cr to ` 1,964 cr ¾ EBITDA increased from ` 215 cr (12.3%) to ` 266 cr (13.5%) ¾ Profit before tax increased from ` 122 cr to ` 192 cr ¾ Gross working capital decreased from 146 days to 141 days ¾ RoCE increased from 17% to 21% What is more satisfying is that our Company has consistently been able to improve its performance since 2003-04 despite testing times. I take this opportunity to recognise the perseverance, determination and commitment of every member of Atul family who is putting in his (her) best and is keen to achieve new mile-stones . The Board recommended dividend of 60% (45% in 2011-12) to commemorate the diamond jubilee of operations on March 17, 2012. Notably, the year also marked the 110 th birth anniversary of Mr Balwantrai Mazumdar who diligently developed our Company in the first 25 years of its long history with foresight and care. We are pleased with the recommendation of a higher dividend. Our Company may have been able to perform even better, but for the closure of its manufacturing facility in Atul for almost a month because of malfunctioning of its main effluent treatment plant and its consequential effects. We took this not as a defeat, but preparation for the future; we undertook new projects at Ankleshwar and Valsad Complexes to further improve our performance in this vital area of environment protection . Further, we took up about 500 Key Initiatives mainly in the following areas: ¾ Receivables and inventories ¾ Yields, solvents, utilities, pricing and products from pollutants ¾ Time cycle, debottlenecking, expansions and new products ¾ Safety, environment, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) ¾ Performance management and training and development The above initiatives will help bring greater focus on efficiency, sustainability and growth, with resultant impact on the performance of our Company. We are developing SOPs in every area so as to institutionalise the learning process and encapsulate and methodically Letter to the Shareholders