Century Enka

A part of the BK Birla group of companies, the company has three plants - Pune, Konkan Synthetic Fibres; Mahad in Maharashtra & Rajashree Polyfil - Bharuch in Gujrat,  producing Nylon & Polyester Filament Yarns. The company did well, both for Q4FY14 and FY14, thanks to tight cost management. For Q4FY14, the company had a 11% (YoY) drop in net sales at Rs.322 crore but despite this, it ended the quarter with a net profit at Rs.11 crore, up 120%. This was on account of the 12% decline in operating costs, led by lower raw material costs, lower power & fuel costs and lower depreciation outgo. Interest cost was down 9%. The  same lower costs helped end FY14 on a very high note – net sales for FY14 was at Rs.1467 crore, down 6% and it ended the fiscal with a net profit at Rs.63 crore, up by a whopping 186%.

This good performance is commendable because apart from the operating efficiency, its polyester plant at Bharuch remains shut since November’13. The company is currently doubling its nylon tyre cord capacity and this is expected to go on stream by August 2014. Once this starts, it will help the company produce 80% of total production of nylon tyre cord fabric as dipped fabric. Looking ahead, the company expects nylon tyre cord to remain stable and ditto for synthetic yarn but risks remain from volatile crude prices and over capacity.