Lanka Tiles seeks production plant in India
View(s):Lanka Tiles PLC (Tiles) has plans to buy a tile manufacturing facility in India in a bid to meet tile demand stemming from the construction boom that’s being witnessed now, officials say.
Tiles factory at Jalthara, Ranala.
The company which had a tough FY 2017 will be expanding capacity and is eyeing to buy a tile factory in India to meet escalating demand in corporate construction sites (shopping malls, etc).
Officials added that in 18 months they’ll be increasing capacity but after that too the company will have room to import from India and China. They said that this expansion is targeted towards making tiles that are 60″ x 60″.
The strategic partnership with India’s Ambani Vitrified Ltd will enable Tiles to cater to the growing demand for larger format tiles, analysts say. Ambani tiles are made at the plant based in Gujarat. The company is trying to release more quantities of 24″ x 24″ tiles to the market in order to meet the escalating market demand. “In addition to this we are scouting for a tiles manufacturing facility in maybe the southern or mid part of India,” an official told the Business Times, adding that during this quarter they will be making progress on this front.
Now 90 per cent of tiles sold by the company is produced locally while 10 per cent is imported from India and China. They were importing from Malaysia, but that didn’t quite take off.
Officials said that capacity expansion to produce larger format tiles is targeted towards the growing demand in the corporate market. The company’s export sales have seen a good growth in Australia and North America. The company posted a top line of Rs. 5.2 billion for FY 2017, a decline of 6.6 per cent year on year (YoY). Exports which increased steadily during the first nine months of the year dropped 47.6 per cent YoY to Rs. 31 million for Q4 FY 17 bringing down overall exports for the year by 5.2 per cent to Rs. 186 million.