Symphony on expansion mode, market capitalisation crosses Rs 5,000 crore
The 2008 acquisition of Mexico's Impco Air Coolers, a company that patented Evaporative Cooling technology, marked the turnaround.
By Vishal Dutta, ET Bureau | Updated:
AHMEDABAD: Twelve years ago, Symphony Limited declared itself sick and got registered with the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, an agency to chart out sick companies' revival.
The makers of India's first branded coolers tasted runaway success in the late eighties and nineties when air-conditioners were only for the top-tier of the consuming class. But it could not hold on to the spiralling growth. By 2002, the net worth had eroded and the stock turned a penny stock (80 paise in September 2004).
It was then when the never-say-die Gujarati spirit took over. In 2008, Symphony Ltd, still under BIFR, made its first acquisition overseas and chairman Achal Bakeri found his way forward. Today, at 54, Bakeri is a happy man. The penny stock has scaled its way back and grown to be a proud member of large cap category on Friday.
“On Friday, from Rs 2.80 crore a decade ago, we have now crossed market capitalisation of Rs 5,000 crore,” says Mr Bakeri, who also announced setting up of a manufacturing unit in the Kandla Special Economic Zone. The reserves and surplus stand at Rs 268.84 crore (June, 2014).
The 2008 acquisition of Mexico's Impco Air Coolers, a company that patented Evaporative Cooling technology, marked the turnaround. In 2009, the company came out of BIFR and changed its strategy.
“We changed from multi-product and single-market strategy to a multi-market and single-product one,” says Nrupesh Shah, executive director at Symphony.The focused strategy also entails a business model of outsourcing manufacturing for domestic market and using own factories only for the exports. As a result, ithas managed a compounded annual growth of 34% in sales and 30% in net profit. Last year, the company issued 650% dividend to its shareholders.
Once on the brink of bankruptcy, the company now sells 5.5 lakh air cooler in the country and 1.5 lakh units abroad. It has posted a net profit of Rs 105.72 crore on a turnover of Rs 532.42 crore. Today, it’s 100% debt free and cash rich, a comfort feeling it wants to take to its customers.
The makers of India's first branded coolers tasted runaway success in the late eighties and nineties when air-conditioners were only for the top-tier of the consuming class. But it could not hold on to the spiralling growth. By 2002, the net worth had eroded and the stock turned a penny stock (80 paise in September 2004).
It was then when the never-say-die Gujarati spirit took over. In 2008, Symphony Ltd, still under BIFR, made its first acquisition overseas and chairman Achal Bakeri found his way forward. Today, at 54, Bakeri is a happy man. The penny stock has scaled its way back and grown to be a proud member of large cap category on Friday.
“On Friday, from Rs 2.80 crore a decade ago, we have now crossed market capitalisation of Rs 5,000 crore,” says Mr Bakeri, who also announced setting up of a manufacturing unit in the Kandla Special Economic Zone. The reserves and surplus stand at Rs 268.84 crore (June, 2014).
The 2008 acquisition of Mexico's Impco Air Coolers, a company that patented Evaporative Cooling technology, marked the turnaround. In 2009, the company came out of BIFR and changed its strategy.
“We changed from multi-product and single-market strategy to a multi-market and single-product one,” says Nrupesh Shah, executive director at Symphony.The focused strategy also entails a business model of outsourcing manufacturing for domestic market and using own factories only for the exports. As a result, ithas managed a compounded annual growth of 34% in sales and 30% in net profit. Last year, the company issued 650% dividend to its shareholders.
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Once on the brink of bankruptcy, the company now sells 5.5 lakh air cooler in the country and 1.5 lakh units abroad. It has posted a net profit of Rs 105.72 crore on a turnover of Rs 532.42 crore. Today, it’s 100% debt free and cash rich, a comfort feeling it wants to take to its customers.
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