Akzo Nobel
Akzo Nobel India Limited, formerly ICI India Limited, is a part of the Netherlands head-quartered Akzo Nobel group, the largest global paints and coating company, which acquired control of ICI India in 2008, due to change in control of Imperial Chemical Industries Plc (ICI) at the global level. It has been in existence for some 60 years, and it manufactures paints, specialty chemicals and starch, of which, paints account for 98% of total sales revenue. Its brand includes the well-known Dulux brand of paint.
The company is a beneficiary of the low crude oil prices as its main raw material is a derivative of the same. This resulted in the raw material costs declining 8% (YoY) and this led to the operating costs coming down over 1%. Thus on a 4% rise in net sales at Rs.671 crore, net profit rose 89% at Rs.51 crore. Other income of Rs.7 crore v/s Rs.4 crore also helped. The great news here – FY15 will end on a bumper note as its net profit for 9MFY15 is at Rs.142 crore, which is just Rs.8 crore short of FY14 net profit. With one more quarter to go, surely this promises to be a great year. And all because of falling crude price!
Reserves as at 31st March 2014 stands at a healthy Rs.800 crore and market cap of this almost-debt free company is over Rs.7000 crore.