Seshasayee Paper and Boards Ltd - Stock Valuation and Financial Performance

Seshasayee Paper and Boards (SPB), incorporated in June 1960, was promoted by Seshasayee Brothers (Pvt) Limited in association with a foreign collaborator M/s Parsons and Whittemore, South East Asia Inc, USA. After commencement of commercial production, having fulfilled their performance guarantee obligations, the foreign collaborators withdrew in 1969.

SPB, the flagship company belonging to 'ESVIN GROUP', operates an integrated pulp, paper and paper board Mill at Pallipalayam, Erode, District Namakkal, Tamilnadu, India.

SPB commenced commercial production in December 1962, on commissioning a 20,000 tonne per annum (tpa) integrated facility, comprising a Pulp Mill and two Paper Machines (PM-1 and PM-2), capable of producing, writing, printing, craft and poster varieties of paper.

The plant capacity was expanded to 35000 tpa in 1967-68, by modification of PM-2 and addition of a third Paper Machine (PM-3). The cost of the expansion scheme, at Rs 34 millions was part financed by All India Financial Institutions (Rs 31 million).

In the second stage of expansion, undertaken in 1976, capacity was enhanced to 55000 tpa, through addition of a 60 tpd new Paper Machine (PM-4). Cost of the project, including cost of a Chemical Recovery Boiler and other facilities for enhanced requirement of utilities, was estimated at Rs. 176 million. The same was part financed by term loans from Institutions and banks to the extent of Rs 145 million and the balance out of internal generation.

SPB undertook various equipment balancing and modernisation programmes, since then, for improving its operating efficiency, captive power generation capacity, etc., upto 1992-93.

The company embarked on an Expansion / Modernisation Project to enhance its production capacity from 60000 tonnes per annum, to 1,15,000 tonnes per annum and to upgrade some of the existing facilities, at an estimated cost of Rs 1890 million.

The said Expansion / Modernisation Project was completed in December 2000. After successful trials, the commercial production out of the new Paper Machine commenced on July 1, 2000.The current installed capacity of the company stands at 1,15,000 tonnes per annum.

The company's paper plant was originally designed for using bagasse, as the primary raw material mixed with 20% bamboo fibre. Bagasse was being obtained from nearby sugar mill on substitution basis using oil fired boilers.

With sharp increase in oil prices in 1970-71, the company shifted over to the use of hardwood, at the time of its expansion undertaken in 1978. Raw material mix underwent a substantial change, with bamboo and hardwood forming 60% and 40%, respectively, of its raw material consumption.

Soon  the company started apprehending difficulties in procurement of bamboo. In 1981, it added one more digester, to increase the share of the hardwood in the furnish mix to 80% and restricting bamboo use to only 20%.

With the commissioning of more wood based industries in Tamilnadu, there was again an apprehension about availability of hardwood. As a long term strategy, the company at this time decided on restructuring use of bagasse which was seen to be the most reliable source of fibre for the entire Industry.

SPB's exports are nearly 20% of its production and is a significant exporter in the Indian Paper Industry. Due to its excellent export performance, SPB has been awarded 'Golden Export House' status.

In 2011 Seshasayee Paper and Boards acquired M/s Subburaj Papers Private Limited.

Product range of the company includes:

• MF I And MF II
• MG
• Yankee
• MF3

Awards & Achievements:

• Capacity Utilisation Award
• Energy Conservation Award
• Environmental Protection Award
• Safety Award
• Export Performance Award
• Good Industrial Relations Award
• TERI - Corporate Environmental Award
• The Company's quality systems to be covered by the 'ISO 9001' accreditation awarded by Det Norske Veritas, The Netherlands.
• The Company has also been accredited with 'ISO 14001' certification by Det Norske Veritas, The Netherlands, for its Environmental Quality Systems.