Despite the current economic downturn and fluctuation of steel prices which pushed up container manufacturing costs by 20 percent, Kolkata-based Transafe Services Limited (TSL), a joint venture company of Balmer Lawrie & Company Limited and ICICI Venture, is looking at 40 per cent growth in gross income this fiscal at Rs 115 crore.
“We are aiming at turnover of Rs 115 crore this fiscal," said G K Mukerjea, managing director and chief executive officer of TSL.
The company reported turnover of Rs 51 crore for the half year ending September 2008 as against Rs 33 crore for the similar period last fiscal.
Demand for services had eased after September but it was unlikely to have a major impact on performance this year as the order book position was comfortable.
TSL, a multi-modal logistics equipment provider, had order book size of around Rs 70-80 crore, excluding tenders for which it had placed bids.
It was aiming to increase production of customized containers by 1,500 Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) by next month.
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The current order book position in quantitative terms was around 3000-4000 units. TSL aimed to double capacity to 3300 units per month by next year.
TSL recently commissioned a manufacturing unit in West Bengal at Kharagpur at an estimated cost of Rs 8 crore, with capacity of 500 units to be double after August 2009. TSL's manufacturing plant at Dharuhera in Haryana would be commissioned by December-end.
TSL did not expect capacity utilisation problems as production was backed by firm orders.
The niche sector of custom build units, which was the focus area of TSL, was expected to remain unaffected despite the current slowdown.
TSL aimed to use its product portfolio to meet demand from different segments.
The TSL units at Coimbatore produced tank containers custom built for defence, space research, ocean research and oil exploration sectors.
The Kharagpur plant would focus on containers for railways and wagon manufacturers located in eastern India.
The Haryana unit would focus on railways and oil transport containers.The company was looking at doubling capacity at its Coimbatore plant at an estimated investment of Rs 12 crore.
TSL took over the container manufacturing unit from parent company Balmer Lawrie in October 2008. The plant at present produced close to 500 units.
TSL would augment capacity by 1000 more units to 1500.
A review of further capacity augmentation plans would be done in July-August 2009.
With firm orders in hand, TSL would not scale back expansion but may defer plans if needed, said Mukerjea. Another Rs 5 crore investment might be made to expand capacity at Kharagpur.
TSL earned bulk of its revenue from manufacturing and direct selling of the custom-built units.
Leasing contributed 30 per cent of total turnover last year, logistics 22 percent and manufacturing the balance 48 per cent, making it the backbone of the business, said Mukerjea
Mukerjea pointed out that in the first six months logistics revenue was 15 per cent of total, while manufacturing revenue was expected to be around 55 percent in the full year and leasing the remaining 30 per cent.
TSL would expect container leasing and logistics services like warehousing and stockyard management to account for half of total revenue and manufacturing to account for the other half in years ahead, said Mukerjea. Container trading, which the company started in 2007, was doing well too.