IRP maintains growth in revenue on higher production and sales volume in Q1, 2008. IRP reports higher consolidated normalized net profit after tax of Baht 258 million in the quarter viz-a-viz Baht 224 million in Q1, 2007. Normalized EBITDA generated from operations is Baht 497 million viz-a-viz Baht 425 million in Q1, 2007. The growth in normalized net profit of 15% has been achieved despite cost push from rising crude prices and strengthening of Thai Baht viz-a-viz US dollars by 8.9%. Revenues from overseas subsidiaries are more than 75% of the consolidated revenues. In Q1, 2008 the growth in revenues in US dollars is 37% versus 25% in Thai Baht.
On 31 March 2008, IRP subsidiaries completed the acquisition of two PET polymer plants in Europe each in Rotterdam, Netherlands and in Workington, United Kingdom. The acquisition has added 355,000 tons per annum to the production capacity. The consolidated balance sheet on March 31, 2008 has incorporated the assets and liabilities for the acquisition. Q2, 2008 will be the first quarter in which contribution to volumes, revenues and earnings from the acquired plants will be added.
IRP management has maintained its focus on volume growth to benefit from scale, higher operating rates for cost control, customer relationships and diversification of revenue streams to mitigate the full impact of rising costs and the Baht appreciation.
In full year 2008, the volume growth will be around 75% which will come from existing capacity of 0.60 million tpa available for full year and capacity addition of 0.35 million tpa from the acquisition in Europe.
The installation of the greenfield plant with a capacity of 432,000 tpa to produce PET polymers in Alabama, USA is on schedule. The plant and equipment supply agreements and construction contracts have been tied-up with the respective suppliers. Also, the financing for the expansion has been tied-up with commercial banks and financial institutions. The plant is scheduled for startup by Q1, 2009
On start-up of operations of the greenfield plant PET polymers capacity of IRP will increase to 1.4 million tpa. IRP will be amongst the top three producers of PET polymers globally. The growth initiatives have been taken in line with demand growth for PET polymers and IRP expects to achieve greater competitiveness through size and scale and benefit of co-location with suppliers to set new cost competitiveness benchmarks. IRP is marching forward with confidence in its future performance.
IRP management remains positive and expects to maintain the growth momentum in revenues and earnings. The demand remains strong from all regions for PET polymers and the total demand in the current year is expected to increase to 14.6 million tons, a demand increase equivalent to a million ton or a growth of 7-8%. The growth in demand is coming from existing and new applications. Water and Energy drinks continue to be the high growth segments. PET polymers can be recycled and therefore considered to be environment friendly, which is resulting in replacement growth over other packaging materials and is preferred by beverage producers and retail chains/supermarkets/hypermarkets.
| Mr. Aloke Lohia Mr. DK Agarwal Tel: (662) 661 6661 |
