Uflex, India’s largest multinational flexible packaging company, has announced its earnings for the Quarter ended 31 March 2019 and Financial Year 2018-19. The consolidated net revenue for Q4FY18-19 rose to INR 2,060.6 cr as compared to INR 1,818.8 cr in the corresponding quarter last fiscal; while the company registered EBITDA growth of 13.4% at INR 260.1 cr in Q4FY18-19.
For full year 2018-19, the consolidated net revenue grew 18.5% to INR 7,974.8 cr and EBITDA increased by 11.6% to INR 1,007.5 cr. The full year consolidated PAT was marginally up by 1.07% at INR 313.8 cr.
In FY2018-19, the Films Business achieved highest ever production of 316,923 MT. The improved financial performance has resulted in CRISIL assigning higher credit rating of ‘A’ to long-term debt of the company. The board has recommended a dividend payout of 20%, subject to shareholders’ approval.
Commenting on the financial performance, Rajesh Bhatia, Group CFO at Uflex Limited said, “Our total production and sales volume for FY18-19 grew 6.1% and 6.7% to 397,492 MT and 395,634 MT respectively. BOPET market continues to be robust resulting in higher capacity utilisation across all plants. BOPP market has also shown substantial improvement in Q4 and we expect this trend to continue in FY19-20.”
Ashok Chaturvedi, chairman and managing director, Uflex Limited said, “We worked diligently towards combating the headwinds that came along this fiscal and remained successful in leading the market with our innovations and product offerings. We have been highly focused on the challenge of Multi-layer plastic recyclability and have developed a technology that converts different layers of multi-layer packaging waste (printed, laminated and metallized) into granules. The latest technology enabled recycling machine was installed at our Noida plant, this quarter.”
He added, “The flexible packaging industry continues to evolve with changing consumer expectations and among the most prominent are sustainability and customization. With solutions for waste plastic being created, we are confident of the demand for flexible packaging growing further, in the coming years. ”
Some key product launches and developments in Q4 FY18-19 are listed below FYR:
1. Launched metallic dies for hot foil stamping and embossing on printed labels and packs: Cylinder Business launched metallic dies manufactured at its latest CNC die manufacturing lines, in the form of metallic plates and rollers with embossed 3D image engraved on it, commonly used in the label industry.
2. FlexFilms India had its pockets full of numerous ground-breaking products: The Indian arm of film manufacturing business of Uflex launched a host of films with cutting edge technology and properties, embedded in each.
a. F-PRP, a 12 micron BOPET film meets the critical needs of bulk packaging and is ideal to use for low density, high volume packaging like large bags of flour, sugar or rice packaging.
b. F-TFP, a thermofoming film with 15, 23 and 36 micron developed for semi-rigid packaging is suitable for ready-to-eat food packaging, take away food items like trays; so that the brand identity of the packaging is retained till the last piece of food item is consumed.
c. F-FTC, the fast-to-tear film applicable for sachets and one-time use food packaging like ketchup, confectioneries and snack, is easily tearable in both directions, enabling consumer ease of accessing the product.
d. Ultra-high oxygen barrier metallized BOPP film B-TUO-M and ultra high barrier and high seal strength metallized BOPP film B-TUH-M was developed with outstanding barriers with less than 10 oxygen transmitting rate (OTR) and 15 OTR respectively. B-TUO-M comes with excellent metal bond strength and metal cracking resistance; and B-TUH-M comes with excellent hermetic seal, better metal bond strength and nitrogen flushing capabilities.
e. Ultra-high barrier with robust seal performance and high metal bond metallized CPP film C-CLM addresses the challenge of sustainable extrusion bond, barrier and seal performance faced by the flexible packaging industry by replacing three layers with two, thereby enabling advantages of lesser carbon foot print.
f. PETG Resin, an amorphous polymer that does not crystallize, making it an excellent replacement for transparent polymer, was launched for the Indian markets. Echoing Make in India, Uflex is the first and only producer of PETG in India and has an opportunity to substitute PETG resins that are currently imported into the country. PETG Resin offers high performance properties including transparency, clarity, gloss, glaze and printability in applications; and is used in applications like personal care, signage, sheet extrusion, LED profile, medical devises, home appliances, consumer goods and 3D print technology.
3. IIOT enabled converting machine introduced: Delivering on its promise to pave the way to Industry 4.0, Engineering Business of Uflex launched several Industrial Internet of Things (llOT) enabled converting machines.
a. Extrusion coating and lamination machine EX LAM 400, the modified machine with European design features made suitable to Indian conditions, is equipped with high line speed of 400 meters per minute (mpm) to handle thin and thick laminate. EX LAM 400 is spread over various variants i.e mono and co-extruder.
b. Uflex is the first ever Indian company to make gearless CI Flexo model Elisa designed with maximum operating speed of 400 mpm with high automation level, in the form of sleeves and anilox removal system. CI Flexo offers many value additions including efficient ink washing system that saves time as well as cost.
c. Solventless laminator machine Super-S-1300 offers microprocessor based thermo-regulation system and can run metalized structures up to a speed of 300 mpm, while others can run up to a speed of 450 mpm.
4. New adhesive for high speed lamination machines launched: Solvent-free adhesive 777 A/C offers excellent performance on various substrates including plastics and has an exceptional compatibility with NC-PU inks, when mixed in the ratio of 1:1. Aimed especially for high-speed lamination machines, it is indigenously created by Chemical Business R&D Team.
5. A new substrate holography PVC/ PVDC coated film for pharma industry: A new substrate Holography PVC/ PVDC coated film was commercially launched for pharmaceutical industry as an anti-counterfeiting solution and supplied to leading drug-makers Sanofi and Alkem