Plans a capital expenditure of Rs. 150 crore across its units
Apollo Tyres will invest Rs.300 crore over the next two years in its Kalamassery unit to convert it into an export unit for industrial tyres. Chairman Onkar S. Kanwar told reporters here on Wednesday that the company was eyeing the European, North American and South African markets for exports.
He also said that the company was looking to establish a greenfield unit in East Europe. The choices before the company were under study he said.
Apollo Tyres plans a capital expenditure of Rs.150 crore across its units this year.
Meanwhile, the company recorded a 79 per cent rise in net profit during the first quarter of the current financial year at Rs.138 crore against Rs.77 crore during the year-ago period. Net sales grew 12 per cent. The operating profit stood at Rs.361 crore.
The shareholders have approved a dividend of 50 paise per share at the company’s annual meeting.
The investments made in the Chennai plant two years ago on product and process technologies were showing results, Mr. Kanwar was quoted as saying in a release.
Apollo Tyres closed the last financial year with a turnover of $2.5 billion, a growth of 37 per cent over the previous year. Mr. Kanwar said that natural rubber price still ruled high. He wanted the government to allow duty-free import of natural rubber to meet the gap in production. He said that efforts were on to acquire rubber plantations in one of the Southeast Asian countries.
Keywords: Apollo Tyres, Kalamassery unit, industrial tyres unit
