With Empee Distilleries’ major projects going on stream and a restructure at an advanced stage, the company hopes to do better in the current year as compared with 2011-12, according to its Chairman, M.P. Purushothaman.

Addressing shareholders at the AGM for the 18-month period ended September 30, Purushothaman said a 60-kilolitre-a-day grain-based distillery project in Andhra Pradesh has gone on stream and will reach full production in March. A brewery unit near Chennai started in the current year and Empee Distilleries’ subsidiary, EDL Properties, will launch a Rs 350-crore residential and commercial development.

The company has also got the statutory approval to launch a new brand of liquor, El Canso Brandy, in Tamil Nadu. A restructuring that will make the group company, Empee Sugars and Chemicals, a subsidiary of Empee Distilleries will bring the sugar company’s 50 MW power project into its fold and augment revenue.

Shareholders have approved the proposal which is now awaiting court approval, he said.

Nisha Purushothaman, Joint Managing Director, told shareholders that the company has had a tough year with product costs, primarily that of Indian Made Foreign Liquor stagnating, while input costs had increased. Nearly 90 per cent of its market is in Tamil Nadu where premium brands of liquor have taken a beating. But the trend is likely to change in the coming year.

She said Empee Sugars’ 50-MW cogeneration unit has been converted into an independent power producer and is now a coal-based power project.

For the 18-month period the company reported a net profit of Rs 22.80 crore on a total revenue of Rs 1,006.81 crore. During the previous year, the company reported a net profit of Rs 21.20 crore on a total revenue of Rs 594 crore. With the restructure and augmented sources of revenue the company will do better, she said.

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