| Addressing a press conference, Biswadip Gupta, managing director, said the plants in India were fully equipped to service Vesuvius group's requirements. |
| Alan Ridley, director of Vesuvius India and president of Asia Pacific business, highlighted the importance of India in the group's scheme of things. |
| He said growth in the North American and western Europe markets had become almost flat and most foundries were moving to Asia, especially China and India. |
| Gupta said, around 50 per cent of the Mehsana plant output could be exported. "It will open new markets such as west Asia and Asia Pacific," he said. |
| Expansion projects had already been taken up in Kolkata, Vishakhapatnam and Mehsana plants to meet increased demand. The company's Rs 15 crore investment in debottlenecking will boost production. |
| Ridley said the company will look at new opportunities and if it made strategic sense, Vesuvius Group will fund it. "Vesuvius in India is poised to contribute in a significant manner towards the turnover and profits of the ceramics division of the Cookson Group plc, the holding company", he said. |
| Vesuvius announced a special dividend of 10 per cent to shareholders as part of its 10th anniversary celebrations in addition to an annual dividend of 30 per cent proposed for the year ended December 2003. |
| Income from operations in the quarter ended December 31, was at Rs 39.26 crore as compared to Rs 30.90 crore in the same period last year. Net profit was at Rs 7.43 crore compared to Rs 6.23 crore. |
| For the year ended December 31, income was at Rs 134.94 crore as compared to Rs 106.62 crore. Net profit was at Rs 20.85 crore as against Rs 16.61 crore. |
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