CAMLIN LIMITED
ANNUAL REPORT 2009-2010
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
Dear Shareholders,
2009-2010 has been an excellent year at Camlin. Camlin demonstrated the
strength and power of its brand, its reach and its connect with the
customers through the best result it has posted since inception. The year
marked growth all around. Growth in revenues by 17%. Growth in EBIDTA by
40% and growth in PAT by 97% to Rs. 12.04 Cr. ROCE for Camlin improved from
16% last year to 21 % in the current year. We believe we are at an
inflection like never before. Camlin is all set to grow three fold in the
next five years.
Macro tailwinds:
Camlin's growth is directly linked with the growth in literacy and
education in India. The urgency to enhance literacy and 'education for all'
is being felt now. Initiatives taken by the Government like the 'Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan' and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education
Act, 2009 are steps in the right direction. From our point of view, this is
great news as high literacy means more demand for our products. We have
also observed that schools are not alone in encouraging better quality of
products. Parents understand the need to buy better quality products for
their children as well. In all, the opportunity for Camlin products is at
an inflection.
Camlin connects:
We touch your lives. Camlin has been a mentor to every child. If you have
children or while you were a child, you would have used a Camlin product,
and you definitely do so even now. The power of the Camlin brand is
enormous with strong consumer connectivity. Camlin has aggressively built
on the strong brand through new products, better communication and wider
reach. As the opportunity expands, Camlin is all set to 'Camlinize' it.
Touching more consumers:
Camlin touches over 55 million households. The Company has been extending
this reach to more consumers every year. Camlin products are today
available across over 150,000 retail touch points. As India grows and this
growth travels from larger cities to smaller cities and class C towns,
Camlin is extending its reach. Its products are today reaching these
smaller towns and connecting with consumers there. This is a whole new
market that is waiting to explode. Camlin is also increasing its
interaction with schools. We expect to touch over 25,000 top schools.
New products, better products:
Camlin has a strong R&D set up that is constantly anticipating customer
needs and working on creating new products and improving existing products.
The opportunity is increasing. The reach is increasing. And we are adding
new products to make the most of the opportunity and the inflection.
Expanding manufacturing, enhancing capacity and modernising:
Camlin has invested extensively over the last three years to modernise and
increase capacity by four times. And the capacities are going on-stream at
an opportune time when the focus on education is growing. Manufacturing is
critical to our business as it helps us get scale which in turn helps us
reduce our cost of production.
New business opportunity:
We serve India's education space. We have closely followed the education
opportunity in India. Within this, we feel there is a good opportunity to
grow the pre-school space. Camlin has made a modest beginning by starting
our own pre-school called Alphakids in Andheri, Mumbai. The response has
been extremely encouraging. Consequently, we will be opening 2 more pre-
schools in 2010-2011 in Thane and Kharghar respectively. Going forward, we
intend to grow this business and create another revenue stream for Camlin
shareholders.
Outlook:
We are very excited about the next few years. The education and literacy
drive of the Government and the increase in per capita GDP in India are
creating a platform for a structural growth phase. We are creating new
products, more competitively. We are penetrating deeper into India to
smaller towns. We are expanding our reach and touching more consumers every
day. We are generating better cash flow for further investment. We are in a
virtuous cycle now.
We feel confident. And our confidence stems from the team we have built
that is passionate about the business we are in. Thank you for your support
in all our endeavours.
Yours Sincerely,
Dilip Dandekar
Chairman & Managing Director.