120 | Cosmo FilmsCosmo Films reveals positive financial results Cosmo Films has declared its fnancial results for the quarter ended December 2021. Q3 FY22 EBITDA has increased by 44 percent (versus corresponding quarter) on the back of higher specialty sales, better operating margins and improved performance by subsidiaries.Enhanced EBITDA together with lower fnance cost and lower effective tax rate led to increase in PAT by 65 percent. Increase in EPS was still higher at 75 percent due to impact of buyback of shares in December 2020. The board of directors has declared a second interim dividend of 10 INR (0.13 USD) per equity share for FY22. Together with the frst interim dividend, the total dividend for FY22 would add up to 35 INR (0.47 USD) per equity share Inside Cosmo Films’ Aurangabad plant compared to 25 INR (0.33 USD) for FY21. During the quarter, the company has received sanction under the Production linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the “The objective is to increase exports production of specialty flms for use in electronic products. The incentive under the scheme will be for fve years on 100 and set up different distribution percent production of the new plant. channels in different countries”want to spend. Barring cases in some countries where a Covid back into the supply chain. We have in-house recycling operations wave has come back again, we see strong demand in most parts in a small way for PCR waste. We have a research team working of the world.’ on it. We have recently put up a de-metallization facility where Initially when Covid began spreading in India, Cosmo faced its metallized flm can be de-metallized so that we can have the flm own set of challenges. The company shut down its plants due back and convert it into granules. The research team is also working to government directives. Later on, the majority of its supply on deinking the flm to remove the ink and use it back as base flm. chain partners was affected and many of them were closed. The Those are the initiatives we are taking and it is just the beginning.’manufacturer had to personally ask them to restart their operations In the next two years, the company will have a system for so Cosmo Films could supply essential products to its customers. mechanical recycling to make PCR flms as close to virgin as ‘April and May 2020 were extremely challenging. Since then, possible and reuse it in several applications. things have started to stabilize. With the rise in demand for hygiene Apart from this, the company is trying to reduce its in-house products, the packaging segment did well. But some segments waste. It is also attempting to reduce noise by 20 decibels. Around did not do so well. For example, we supply synthetic paper for 20 different projects are going on in the company purely from restaurant menu cards. A majority of the restaurants were closed sustainability perspective. and shifted to digital when they opened. That hurt demand. Broadly speaking, there was a positive impact on demand especially on Graphic arts applicationsthe label side. The demand for disinfectants went up and we Cosmo Films is launching a flm for graphics applications in the next have strong presence in labels which in turn resulted in increased six months. demand for us,’ Poddar says. ‘The biggest thing was that PVC in general has low cost for Freight costs went up signifcantly and getting a ship or shipping printing so we wanted to make something competitive from a price container was a ‘huge challenge’. perspective which at the same time gives a nice print on signage ‘That clarifed for us which vendors were long term partners and banners. We have been able to be as close as 90-95 percent and our which were not. Some said they could not stand on MOU terms focus is sustainability. With PVC there are sustainability concerns and wanted spot terms; others abided by MOU terms during those and we are trying to come up with a recyclable flm. It is printable days. It helped us identify who are more ethical in their business on all current print technologies used for signage applications,’ practices. There were few others who all of a sudden stopped Poddar explains. supplying containers to us despite several years of relationship,’ The company’s goal is to focus on these new market segments he adds. over the next three to four years. ‘We have been working on becoming a stronger proposition for Sustainability efforts our customers over last few years. We have worked aggressively on Covid shifted priorities for everyone, but Poddar says that reducing quality complaints. We have 5S awarded plants and we sustainability was always a concern. Cosmo is doing its part by are moving forward in terms of aiming for global level awards and helping customers with sustainable and recyclable products in quality such as Golden Peacock award. We have implemented TQM packaging or labels. project in the company and have been working on it for the last The company is also investing heavily in eco-friendly operations. six months. It is shifting to renewable energy in a signifcant way and aims ‘Over next three years, we really want to be the best in class to become a ‘water positive’ company. Cosmo has planted 5,000 in the world in operations. That is what Cosmo team is working trees in the last year and over next 2-3 years plans to plant around on – achieving 6 Sigma levels of quality over next 2-3 years,’ 20,000 more. Poddar concludes. ‘We are working on using post-consumer waste back into whichever way it can be used. We have already started to do this in Read more about L&L coverage of Cosmo Films at a limited way,’ Poddar explains. www.labelsandlabeling.com/search/node/Cosmo‘The majority of our focus is on mechanical recycling and put it labelsandlabeling.com