Associated Battery Manufacturers (Ceylon) Limited (ABM) has shown a healthy financial performance recording a turnover of Rs 3.36 billion in the financial year 2017/18, a top- line growth of 24% year on year.
The company’s profit before tax (PBT) has also seen a significant increase to Rs 272 million which is a bottom- line growth of 12.5% over 2016/17.
Director, CEO ABM, M. Ramachandran attributed this encouraging financial performance of ABM Exide to quality and product perception which is clearly highlighted by the low returns and number of failures coming down drastically. The warranty replacements have declined to a record low percentage of 2.2% which is very good on the international standard average.
The CEO said this year the target is to further bring down the warranty replacement percentage below the 2.2% mark and this will be possible with the improvements carried out in the product and manufacturing process. ABM has also recorded a 59% growth in battery exports mustering a export revenue of US$ 1.33 million in 2017/18 by exporting to Myanmar, Singapore, UAE, Indonesia and the Maldives.
Ramachandran said this year they plan to move into Cambodia and Vietnam.
Elaborating on goals for 2018, the CEO said they aim at a turnover of Rs 4 billion and this will be on track for achieving the 5 billion target as envisaged in his five year plan for the company.
He said the company also plans to introduce products for electric and hybrid vehicles and would be moving to Lithium Ion batteries to cater to that segment. For this, he said, they would be collaborating with a foreign company and have already began negotiations with a fortune 500 Korean company. He said by end 2018 they will be ready with a complete proposal.