- Earmarks investment of $ 250 million in setting up new manufacturing facilities and capacity expansion both inIndia& overseas in next 2 years.
- Total investments in Egyptpegged at $135 million; commissioned an AL-OX coater, CPP, BOPP and PET film plant in Egypt
- Investing $90 $80 million to set up a polyester films plant in Kentucky, US; production to start by December 2012
- Production at manufacturing facility in Wrzesnia, Poland commenced in June July 2012
- 2nd phase of expansion of facility in Mexicocompleted.
Egypt, August 31, 2012: – UFlex Ltd, the Bombay Stock Exchange (UFlex: 500148) and NSE listed, India’s largest flexible packaging company, today tabled their next phase of growth, which will involve investments in setting up new manufacturing facilities and capacity expansion in existing locations. Adding new capacities and favourable demand trends globally will add traction to UFlex growth to the next milestone of touching the $2 billion revenue mark by FY 2015.
In the financial year ended March 31, 2012, UFlex had become the first Indian company in the flexible packaging sector to achieve the milestone of $1 billion revenue. UFlex agenda of global expansion and consolidation of its position as a truly Indian MNC (Multinational Corporation) with facilities in Dubai, Mexico, Egypt, India, Poland and USA reinforces its strategy of increasing proximity to potential markets, apart from bringing broad portfolio of value added products to its clients at competitive price points.
According to Mr. Ashok Chaturvedi, Chairman and M.D. of UFLEX Ltd, “Our global investments in excess of $500 million in greenfield and brownfield expansion is symbolic of our dual commitment – to investors, creating incremental value on their investments, on one hand; and solutions based innovation driven product offerings that adds value to clients’ go-to-market strategy. Our investors and clients are our guide to future growth strategies, which is crucial for us to Identify and harness the opportunities at the right time that is key to our strong foothold in the flexible packaging market globally.”
Expansion Plans
UFlex Ltd is currently investing Rs 380 400-crore ($90 $80 million) to set up a polyester films plant in Kentucky, in the US with an annual capacity of 30,000 metric tonnes. This facility will start production by December 2012. This will be the first Greenfield investment to be made in Kentucky by an Indian company, as also UFlex first manufacturing facility in the USA.
In the quarter ended June 30, 2012, UFlex completed the setting up of its new manufacturing facility for production of 30,000 MTs of polyester film in Wrzesnia, in Poland. The facility involved investments of about $80 million (around Rs 360 crore). The project has successfully commenced commercial production since June July 2012.
During the financial year ended March 31, 2012, UFlex Ltd completed the 2nd phase of expansion of its facility in Mexico aggregating a total capacity of 60000 MT of PET film and commissioned an AL-OX coater, CPP plant of 12000 MTs and PET film of 30,000 MTs in Egypt.
The company’s total investments in Egypt are pegged at $135 million while the investments in Mexico amounted to $109 million. The facility in Egypt has trade pacts with GCC nations, Southern Europe & Africa, Middle East, West Asia and CIS to access larger markets, while the facility in Mexico has trade pacts and is part of NAFTA, thus has access to a large market like North America.
Financials
UFlex has grown from strength to strength registering a 22% increase in its consolidated net revenue for the quarter ended June 30, 2012 at Rs. 1376 crore as against Rs. 1125 crore for the same period last year.
The firm’s consolidated net profit for the June quarter of 2012 stood at Rs. 56 crore as against Rs. 96 crore for the same quarter last year. However, sequentially, the revenue and net profit for Qtr. June, 2012 viz – viz Qtr. March, 2012 has grown by 16% and 5% respectively. The higher revenue growth is attributed to new capacity expansion globally and increased uptake of innovative flexible packaging solutions offered by the company across sectors.
UFlex closed the financial year ended March 31, 2012 on a strong note registering a growth of 30% in consolidated net revenues at Rs. 4543 crore as against Rs. 3540 crore for the previous year, on the back of favourable demand trends globally.
Competitive Advantage
UFlex strong manufacturing base in India, Mexico, Dubai and Egypt and Poland caters to global markets spanning USA,Canada,South America,UK, Europe,Russia, CIS countries,South Africa and other African countries, the Middle East and the South Asian Countries.
UFlex is the only integrated unit of its kind in the world with flexible packaging at its core. It has vast capacities for production of Polyester chips, Biaxially Oriented Polyethylene Teraphthalate (BOPET) and Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) films, Printing & Coating Inks, facilities for Holography, Metalization & PVDC coating, making Gravure Printing Cylinders & Flexo Printing plates, Gravure Printing, Lamination and Pouch formation.
The company’s partial client list includes Unilever, Pepsi, Wrigley, Procter & Gamble, Colgate, Palmolive, Nestle, Gillette, Ranbaxy, Perfetti, Joyco, Monsanto, ITC, Godrej Pillsbury, Tata Tea, Hindustan Petroleum, Indian Oil, Britannia, Dabur, Haldiram, Wockhardt, HUL, Parle Biscuit, and Birla 3M, among others.
