Leaving behind the devastating AMRI hospital fire that claimed more than 73 lives and put the Emami promoters in a spot, the company on Wednesday outlined its expansion plan for shareholders at the annual general meeting.
"The company plans to invest Rs 50 crore in a greenfield unit for personal and healthcare products in Assam. We are in the process of identifying the land for the same," N H Bhansali, chief executive officer (finance, strategy and business development) Emami, said. Emami promoters happen to be a major shareholders in the AMRI hospital. According to Bhansali, the company has earmarked Rs 100-125 crore for brownfield and greenfield projects this year. The shareholder queries were fielded by Bhansali, even though the meeting was chaired by executive chairman, R S Agarwal.
Incidentally, this was the first public appearance for R S Agarwal, R S Goenka a promoter and non-executive chairman and directors, Aditya Agarwal and Preeti Sureka after the AMRI fire incident in December 2011. Following the fiasco, three of the firm's board members who were also directors of AMRI-- R S Agarwal, R S Goenka and S K Todi — were arrested, while police were on the lookout for Aditya Agarwal and Preeti Sureka. Much later, all of them got bail and Todi stepped down from the Emami board.
"I don't think there is any impact on our image as is evident in our results (first quarter)," Aditya Agarwal said, when asked about the impact of the AMRI incident on the company's image.
Emami has posted a 12.3 per cent increase in profit after tax, led by domestic sales. "Overseas business accounts for 13 per cent of our total sales. We expect it to remain stable at 14-15 per cent on an increased turnover this year," Bhansali said at the AGM. Emami's proposed units in Bangladesh and Egypt are also likely to operational by the end of this year.
Further, the company is eyeing acquisitions in the personal and healthcare segments in India and overseas. “SAARC, CIS and Middle East countries have a good value proposition,” Bhansali told reporters after the 29th annual general meeting of Emami here on Wednesday.
