Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd. is a Government of India Enterprise engaged in diversified business with presence in both manufacturing and service businesses. The company is engaged in the business of Industrial Packaging, Greases & Lubricants, Leather Chemicals, Logistic Services and Infrastructure, Refinery & Oil Field and Travel & Vacation Services in India.
Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd. is the market leader in the 210L Mild Steel (MS) Drum industry, a part of the Rigid Industrial Packaging segment, with a market share of more than 34%. The strategic business unit (SBU) operates through six manufacturing plants on pan India basis, which include the state-of-the-art facility at Navi Mumbai. The SBU manufactures high quality products ranging from Open Head, Tight Head, Plain, Lacquered, Composite, Galvanized, Tall, Necked-In and Conical Drums catering to diverse industry segments and the best-in-class customers in these segments. These products are utilized for packaging Additives, Chemicals, Lubricants, Food & Fruit Pulp, Edible Oils and various Liquid and Semi Liquid substances.
The company's Greases & Lubricants SBU has Pan India operation with three manufacturing plants in Kolkata, Silvassa and Chennai. The SBU is divided into three segments viz. Contract Manufacturing and Processing, Direct Sales and Channel Sales (Automotive and Industrial). The Leather Chemicals SBU manufactures specialty leather chemicals.
In the Logistics Infrastructure SBU, the company has three state-of-the-art Container Freight Stations (CFS) located at Nhava Sheva (Navi Mumbai), Chennai and Kolkata. The company's Warehousing and Distribution facilities are presently available at Kolkata and Coimbatore. The company is also managing the Integrated Check Post (ICP) operations at Jogbani in Bihar bordering Nepal. The ICP at Raxaul is operational from March 2018 which is also managed by Balmer Lawrie.
In the Logistics Services (LS) SBU, air freight services is a dominant activity for the SBU and accounts for more than 64% of the SBU's overall top-line.
Balmer Lawrie & Co. is one of the largest TMC (Travel Management Company) catering to corporate travel and business travel of various Central Ministries, Banks and PSUs. It has presence in almost 88 locations across the country.
The company's Refinery and Oil Field Services (ROFS) SBU is engaged in oil sludge processing for refineries and oil exploration companies, not only recovering useful hydrocarbon through such process but at the same time reducing the risk of environmental hazard from untreated sludge. The SBU is the pioneer in mechanized in-situ sludge processing and maintains leadership position in India with nearly 70% market share. By virtue of being a pioneer, possessing state of the art technology and rich experience in executing projects within stipulated timelines, the SBU has developed a loyal list of satisfied clientele, which drives the business of the SBU. The SBU has an exclusive license agreement with its technology partners based in Europe who have developed the patented BLABO process, which still enjoys the technical superiority over other processes.
Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd was incorporated on February 18, 1924 as a private limited company. Initially, the company started as a Partnership Firm on February 1, 1867 in Kolkata. The company was founded by two Scotmen - George Stephen Balmer and Alexander Lawrie.
In January 3, 1936, the company was converted into a public limited company. In the year 1972, the company became a Government company consequent to the nationalization of IBP Co. Ltd, the holding company. In the year 1987, the company was awarded the Schedule B PSE status by GoI.
In May 1999, the company started the business of blending and packaging of speciality tea with the commissioning of the plant at Bedford. Also, they started the production of aviation lubricants in their joint venture company, Avi-Oil India at Piyala, Faridabad. The company had executed the export order for a speciality oil consignment. They upgraded the tea factory at Kolkata to cater to the growing value added business.
In the year, 2001 IBP Co Ltd transferred their holding of 61.8% in the company to Balmer Lawrie Investments Ltd, which was formed by the Government on October 2001. During the year 2002-03, the company increased the production capacity of LPG Cylinders by 114,200 Nos to 239,200 Nos. Also, they increased the production capacity of Greases & Lubricating Oil by 29,800 MT to 71,500 MT.
During the year 2002-03, the company increased the production capacity of Greases & Lubricating Oil by 100 MT to 71,600 MT. During the year 2004-05, they increased the production capacity of Barrels and Drums by 110,000 Nos to 3,780,000 Nos. In the year 2003, the company was awarded the Mini Ratna II PSE status. In the year 2006, the company was awarded the Mini Ratna I PSE status by GoI.
During the year 2006-07, the company entered into an MoU with the Government of India at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas detailing therein various targets on operational, financial and efficiency parameters besides matters like customer satisfaction, quality and human resource development. The name of their subsidiary company was changed from Indian Container Leasing Company Ltd to Transafe Services Ltd.
During the year, the company increased the production capacity of Barrels and Drums from 3,780,000 Nos to 3,954,000 Nos. During the year 2007-08, they further company increased the production capacity of Barrels and Drums from 3,954,000 Nos to 4,374,500 Nos. Their Industrial Packaging SBU closed their bitumen drum manufacturing facility at Mathura and discontinued production of bitumen drums at Panipat due to expiry of the drum fabrication contracts with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
In October 2008, the Steel Drum Closure Division was shifted to a new location at Turbhe, Navi Mumbai where the Division has become fully operational. Also, they completed the transfer of leasehold land at MIDC - Turbhe with the signing of a tripartite agreement with BLVL and MIDC.
During the year, the company increased the production capacity of Greases & Lubricating Oils from 71,600 MT to 73,200 MT. The company acquired a further 15.22% of the paid-up equity capital of TSL from ICICI Venture whereby the equity shareholding of the company in TSL currently stands increased to 50%.
During the year 2009-10, the company further increased the production capacity of Greases & Lubricating Oils from 73,200 MT to 74,280 MT. In March 2010, the company launched a 50:50 Joint Venture Company under the name and style of PT Imani Ganda Utama (PTIGU) at Indonesia - the other partner being an existing Indonesian Company, viz. PT Imani Wicaksana - for manufacture and marketing of greases and lubricants in Indonesia. In June 2010, the Industrial Packaging SBU commissioned their new plant at Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh.During the year ended 31 March 2014, Balmer Lawrie & Company's wholly owned subsidiary in UK Balmer Lawrie (UK) Ltd (BLUK) bought back 1,583,280 shares in its capital from Balmer Lawrie & Company's, being its Holding company, at a price of $2.50 million. The financial year 2013-14 also saw BLUK making payment of its maiden dividend of $ 1 million out of its reserves, which was paid as interim dividend, there being no final dividend.
Balmer Lawrie & Company's Industrial Packaging strategic business unit clocked highest-ever sales volume of steel drums during 2013-14. This was accomplished despite the shrinkage of the market in the wake of directive to Government Companies to procure MS Drums only from Small & Medium Enterprises. In 2013-14, the company's Greases & Lubricants SBU recorded an all-time high sales volume, registering a volumetric growth of 8% and turnover growth of 11% over the previous year. This was achieved despite various constraints holding up growth of the manufacturing sector, although the bottom line was affected due to adverse market conditions.
The company's Performance Chemicals SBU achieved 43% growth in volume for overseas business during 2013-14 and recorded highest ever export volume, which is a significant achievement.
The financial performance of the company's Logistics Services SBU during 2013-14 was commendable with the SBU surpassing all its previous year records and achieving its highest ever profit despite somewhat flat growth in the top line. This was achieved primarily on account of better product mix and marketing of value added services to the customers.
In February 2014, Balmer Lawrie & Company acquired Leisure Travel Business of Vacations Exotica Destinations Pvt. Ltd., a large tour operator in the country. With the acquisition of the Vacations Exotica brand and business, the company has become one of the top five tour operators in India. It now offers holiday packages to the portfolio of corporate and government clients which number approximately 7,50,000.
Balmer Lawrie & Company's Industrial Packaging strategic business unit clocked the highest ever sales in 2014-15. This was achieved despite the fact that in the second half of the financial year the SBU did not have any orders from the PSU Oil Companies or Government due to Government directives on procurement of Steel Drums from MSME.
In 2014-15, import arrivals at the company's Container Freight Stations jumped 23% compared to the previous fiscal. Export volume too went up by 20% over the previous year. The company's Logistics Services SBU during 2014-15 achieved the highest ever profit since inception of this SBU despite a nominal growth of 2% in top line as compared to previous year. This was achieved primarily on account of better sales mix coupled with economy in cost of operation.
During the year, to benefit from the possible synergies, Balmer Lawrie & Company merged two of its SBUs earlier known as 'Tours & Travel' and 'Tours -- Vacations Exotica' and renamed the combined strategic business unit as 'Travel & Vacations' to build one seamless travel and vacations operation that offers end to end Travel & Vacation solutions to its wide spread customers.
During the financial year ended 31 March 2016, Balmer Lawrie & Company's Industrial Packaging strategic business unit (SBU) recorded the highest ever profit. During the year under review, the bottom-line of the company's Greases & Lubricants SBU witnessed a significant turn-around over last year mainly due to the favorable impact of lower base oil prices. Inspite of lower sales volume achieved during the year, the company's Leather Chemicals SBU turned around to earn profits by improving the process efficiency and undertaking operational excellence initiatives. The company Logistics Services SBU during 2015 -16 achieved the highest ever top line since inception of this SBU registering a growth of 8% on year to year basis.
Considering the potential in Cold Chain Logistics, Balmer Lawrie & Company ventured into setting up Temperature Controlled Warehouses (TCW). The first state of the art TCW was commissioned in Hyderabad in March 2016.
During the financial year ended 31 March 2017, Balmer Lawrie & Company issued 8,55,01,923 bonus shares in the ratio of 3 new shares for every share held.
Sales of the company's industrial packing strategic business unit (SBU) during the year 2016-17 was higher than the previous year. The higher sales volume was accomplished despite shrinkage of available market in the wake of directives to Government and PSUs to procure MS Drums only from Small & Medium Enterprises. During the year, the SBU maintained its profitability in spite of increase in steel prices. The SBU achieved higher sales through stabilization of the Navi Mumbai plant and improvement in operational efficiencies through Operational Excellence across various manufacturing units.
During the year under review, despite severe price competition from PSU Oil Companies, major MNCs and other private players and sharp hike in base oil and lithium hydroxide prices, Balmer Lawrie & Company's Greases & Lubricants SBU was able to better its overall performance level in terms of production and sales as compared to last year. During 2016-17, the sales turnover of the SBU witnessed a growth of 6.5% over last year. The bottom-line for the year has, however, been affected due to abnormal increase in lithium hydroxide price, increase of base oil prices in the second half of the year and increase of other input prices which could not be passed on to the customers fully because of the market situation and contractual delivery terms.
During the year under review, the company's Leather Chemicals SBU achieved significant profits through increase in domestic sales coupled with cost reduction & efficiency improvement initiatives and reduction in prices of major raw materials. The SBU achieved the highest ever profit from this activity since its inception.
During the year under review, the company's Container Freight Stations (CFS) business failed to grow in volume, revenues and earnings as compared to the previous year primarily due to adverse effects of the policies being implemented by the government for promoting the Direct Port Delivery and the competitive scenario prevailing in the industry. The company was able to retain its present set of customers. Loaded import arrivals to the company's CFS were down by 8% compared to the previous fiscal. There was no growth in export front. The company's warehousing activity continued to perform well during the year due to better utilisation of space.
The company's Logistics Services vertical during 2016-17 achieved the highest ever top line and PBT registering a growth of 13% in Turnover over the previous year. The Logistics Services (LS) vertical achieved the highest ever volume on Ocean freight during the year.
The Board of Directors of Balmer Lawrie & Company at its meeting held on 29 May 2018 approved the acquisition of 10% equity share of RCHobbytech Solutions Private Limited out of which 2% would be transferred to Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta Innovation Park (IIM-CIP) for providing incubation support to the start-up and acquisition of 8.5% equity share of Kanpur Flowercycling Private Limited out of which 2% would be transferred to IIM-CIP for providing incubation support to the start-up.
As part of the strategic plan, Balmer Lawrie & Company has been consistently looking for opportunities for growth in the logistics sector.
In this context, a JV has been formed in the name of Visakhapatnam Port Logistics Park Limited (VPLPL) with Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) contributing 40% of equity and the remaining 60% being funded by your company to set up a Multi Modal Logistics Hub in Visakhapatnam on a 53 acre land allotted to the company by VPT. During the year under review, the company completed the Rail connectivity, made ready the yard for storage of loaded and empty containers.
During the year 2017-18, the company's industrial packing plant at Taloja was rated for Gold Category under National Award for Manufacturing. During the year, the SBU maintained its profitability inspite of increase in steel prices. The SBU achieved higher sales revenue and volumes and improved its overall efficiency across various manufacturing units.
The Direct Sales segment of the company's Greases & Lubricants SBU registered a marginal drop in sales volume in 2017-18. The negative growth was the result of the SBU's shift in focus to non-tender businesses with better margins from volume-driving tender businesses. Due to the company's increased thrust on Channel Sales segment, the SBU achieved an excellent growth of more than 25% in on Channel Sales volume during 2017-18.
During the year under review, the company's leather chemicals SBU delivered growth in volume and revenue. Both fatliquor and syntan segments witnessed healthy growth. The SBU maintained profitability inspite of the adverse impact of escalating raw material prices.
During the year under review, the company's Container Freight Stations (CFS) business could not grow in volume, revenues and earnings as compared to the previous year primarily due to the Government promoting the Direct Port Delivery system without the involvement of CFSs. The competitive scenario prevailing in the industry also resulted in lower margins on the volumes handled. The company was however, able to retain its present set of customers. Loaded import arrivals to the company's CFSs were down by 14% compared to the previous fiscal. However export rose 21%. The warehousing activity continued to perform well during the year due to better utilisation of space.
Considering the potential in cold chain logistics, Balmer Lawrie & Company ventured into setting up Temperature Controlled Warehouses (TCW). The second TCW at Rai, Haryana commenced operation in October 2017 after the first one at Hyderabad was commissioned in March 2016. The Integrated Check Post (ICP) operations at Raxaul managed by the company became operational from March 2018.
In 2017-18, the company's Logistics Services (LS) SBU suffered a de-growth of 9% in the top-line, primarily on account of revenue per job coming down drastically due to stiff competition in the air and ocean freight segments. As a consequence, the bottom-line of the SBU also got affected marginally compared to the previous year. The SBU was able to increase its business from the private sector by 3% on year-on-year basis, with the major increase coming from ocean export freight from Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata branches. The Project Logistics team was able to bag prestigious orders and executed them very efficiently earning accolades from the customers. The SBU during the year continued to upgrade its existing operations software package, the benefits of which are likely to be experienced in the coming years.
Balmer Lawrie & Company's ticketing SBU saw remarkable progress in turnover and profit in 2017-18. On the other hand, the Vacations vertical ended the financial year with lower turnover due to reduction in NRI business, lower GIT and FIT.
The company's Refinery and Oil Field Services (ROFS) achieved targeted turnover and profit in 2017-18. The operational efficiency was maintained at the highest level with much higher throughput and capacity utilization compared to industry standards. The SBU upgraded its ISO certification from 2008 to 2015 version during the financial year 2017-18. The new certificate has been issued by DNV and is valid till March 2020.
During the year 2019, the joint venture (JV) Transafe Services Ltd (TSL) was able to arrange credit from few suppliers, whereby it was possible to execute pending supplies to PSU entities.
During the year 2019, the Company initiated steps for closing of operations of Balmer Lawrie (UK) Ltd. (BLUK), a subsidiary of the Company and is in the process of getting necessary statutory clearances from authorities in the United Kingdom. As part of this process, the shares of PT Balmer Lawrie Indonesia (PTBLI), which were held by BLUK has been transferred to Balmer Lawrie during the year under review. It is felt that the process of voluntary winding of the company would be completed during FY 2019-20.
During the FY 2018-19, PT Balmer Lawrie Indonesia became a Joint Venture of the Company.
In June 2019, the Company inaugurated new Industrial Packaging plant for steel drum manufacturing in Vadodara, Gujarat. On 10th December 2019, the new state-of-art Finishing Chemical plant with cutting-edge technology was commissioned at Chennai. On 20th February 2020, SBU: Greases & Lubricants launched Balmerol' automotive products at Kathmandu in Nepal. In February, 2020, SBU: Logistics Infrastructure commissioned a Warehouse with capacity of approximately 80000, sq.ft with Cold storage capacity of 5000 sq. Ft at Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) located at Pragati Maidan, Visakhapatnam.
In 2021, the SBU: Leather Chemicals was renamed as SBU: Chemicals by venturing into Agro and Textile Chemicals; the SBU: Cold Chain was formed and brand 'LOGICOLD' launched in 2022.
In 2022-23, Cold Chain Unit at Bhubaneswar commissioned in July, 2022.