From Legacy to Innovation: A Paint Company’s Evolution

Kansai Nerolac Paints Limited (KNPL) is an almost debt free, more than 100 years old company engaged in manufacturing automotive coatings, refinishes, industrial coatings, architectural and construction materials, and marine coating. It is subsidiary of Kansai a Japanese, Osaka-based chemical company and one of the world’s top 10 coating manufacturers.

Current Price-: 597 Rs

Established in 1920 as Gahagan Paints and Varnish Co. Ltd. at Lower Parel in Bombay it was only in 1930, when three British companies merged to formulate Lead Industries Group Ltd which acquired Gahagan Paints and thus as a result, Goodlass Wall (India) Ltd. was born.

In 1957, Goodlass Wall Pvt. Ltd. grew popular as Goodlass Nerolac Paints (Pvt.)Ltd. With the acquisition of entire stake of Forbes Gokak and its associates by Kansai Paints it became the subsidiary of the latter in 1999.

In 2006, the name of the company was changed from Goodlass Nerolac Paints Ltd.(GNPL) to Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd.

Kansai Nerolac Paints Limited (KNPL), erstwhile Goodlass Nerolac Paints Ltd, is the second largest paint company in India and is the leader in industrial segment. The company has five strategically located manufacturing units all over India and a strong dealer network across the country supported by a strong network of 27,500 dealers, 20,000 colour-tinting machines, and 104 depots.

The company manufactures a diversified range of products ranging from decorative paints coatings for homes, offices, hospitals and hotels to sophisticated industrial coatings for most of the industries. The company markets its products under the brand names Nerolac, Glossolite, Goody, Allscapes, Excel, in decoratives.

The group has presence across product ranges and focuses on premium and innovative brands such as Nerolac Impressions, metallic finish, Beauty Gold, Suraksha Plus, Excel Top Guard and water-based enamels that support sales growth. The Soldier brand focussed on the rural market is also seeing good traction.

KNPL is a leader in Industrial coatings. Leveraging its position as priority supplier across various automotive OEMs and ancillaries, the company now has substantial presence in Performance coatings & Powder coating.

It has continued to venture into newer areas of Wood coating, Adhesives, Transportation coatings, Coil & Rebar coatings ,Super durable powders, Construction chemicals.

During the year 2020-21,Kansai Nerolac Paints celebrates its 101st year and has been at the forefront of paint manufacturing pioneering a wide spectrum of quality paints. Kansai Nerolac is one of the leading paint company in India and is the leader in Industrial paints.

Technical Assistance

Technical Assistance Agreements of the company with renowned players in paint industry at international level puts the company in a strong position to offer products which meets stringent international specifications. It started in 1993 when the company tied-up with Kansai Paints of Japan (for manufacture of Sophisticated architectural Coatings) and Nihon Tokushu Torya Co. Ltd also of Japan (for body seal and under seal coatings).

Company also tied up for technical assistance agreement with Dupont Performance Coatings GmbH & Co. KG, Germany for know-how of manufacture of Anodic Electro-deposition Coatings System during the year 2000-01. The company’s other Technical Assistance agreements include E.I. Dupont De Nemours & Co. Inc. of USA for automotive coatings; Oshima Kogyo Company Ltd., of Japan for heat resistant paints; Valspar Corporation of US for powder coatings; Drew Chemicals Corporation of US for water and fuel treatment chemicals and Ameron Inc. USA for high performance coatings.

Investments in Subsidiaries / Acquisitions

During 2005-2006, the company made an investment in a Malaysian Company, a JV company between the company and Kansai Paint Co Ltd., Japan (Kansai), where the company will hold 55% stake and 45% Stake by Kansai. Further the Malaysian company has entered into an agreement to acquire the paint business of Sime Coatings Sdn.Bhd.

During the financial year ended 31 March 2013, Kansai Nerolac Paints acquired 68% of the paid up equity share capital of Nepal Shalimar Paints Pvt. Ltd.

Kansai Nerolac Paints’ subsidiary in Srilanka, Kansai Paints Lanka Pvt. Ltd. commenced its operations in 2017. Kansai Nerolac Paints entered Sri Lankan paint market by way of a joint venture with Capital Holdings Maharaja, which is one of the biggest conglomerates in Sri Lanka.

In 2018, Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd. informed that it had entered into Share Purchase Agreements (SPAs) to acquire 100% equity stake in Marpol Private Limited (Marpol). Marpol Private Limited, established in the year 1983 is a pioneer in powder coating business and is a reputed brand. Kansai Nerolac is a leader in the Powder coating market in India. The acquisition of Marpol will further add to the leadership of Kansai Nerolac in the power coasting market in India.

In 2018, Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd. announced that it has completed the acquisition of 55% equity share holding of RAK Paints Ltd, Bangladesh.

RAK Paints Limited is one of the established paint companies in Bangladesh having a diverse product range encompassing decorative paints (includes water based, solvent based, primers and cement paints) and industrial paints (includes marine, primer and epoxy). With this investment in RAK Paints Limited Bangladesh, Kansai Nerolac aims to increase its foot print in the SAARC countries.

In April 2018, the Company acquired 100% equity shareholding in Marpol Private Limited, Goa (‘Marpol’), one of the leading companies in powder coating business, for an aggregate consideration of Rs 34.12 Crore.

Also in April 2019, the Company acquired 100% equity shareholding in Perma Construction Aids Private Limited (‘Perma’), which manufactures and sells construction chemicals, for an aggregate consideration of Rs 29.10 Crore.

KNPL had decided to enter new areas with potential, to enhance growth and de-risk the business, in the space of Adhesives and Construction Chemicals. For Adhesives, it entered a Joint Venture (JV) with Polygel to form an entity Nerofix with Polygel and for construction chemicals it acquired Perma Construction Aid Pvt Ltd.

In 2019, the Nerolac Range of products was launched for construction chemicals. In addition KNPL also tied up with ICRO Italy, a leader in high end wood coatings and launched Nerolac ICRO.

Apart from its mainstay technological collaboration with Kansai for manufacturing sophisticated architectural coatings, the group has technological tie-ups with Oshima Kogyo Co Ltd, Japan (for heat-resistant paint), Protech Oxyplast Group, Canada (for powder coatings), and Cashew Ltd, Japan (automotive coatings). In fiscal 2020, Kansai Nerolac entered into a JV with Polygel Industries Pvt Ltd. to form Nerofix Pvt Ltd and Perma Construction Aids Private Ltd was also acquired during that fiscal.

CAPACITY EXPANSION

We have continued with our expansion and investment plan into building new capacities. Capacities were added in several product lines viz. coil coating, CED, wood finish and powder coatings. All this firmly establishes our belief in the Indian Growth Story and demonstrates our resilience during the pandemic crisis.

Business Products

Interior wall paints

This product proposition is designed to cater to the evolving needs of customers in the key segments of Decorative and Industrial.

Exterior wall paint

Kansai Nerolac provides exterior wall paint which prevents walls with excellent flexibility, waterproofing and crack-bridging ability along with UV resistant water based exterior emulsion paint with enhanced barrier protection, paint film re-inforcement, increased inter-coat adhesion and toughness and much more.

Wood Coating

METALLIC PAINT

It keeps the metal trimmings and fittings looking as good as new with the range of metal enamel paints and finishes.

ANCILLARY PAINTS

NEROLAC NEROFIX – Adhesive

HYGIENE CARE RANGE

NEROLAC’S WATERPROOFING RANGE – NEROLAC PERMA

INDUSTRIAL PAINT

Right from household appliances to metal fittings in various factories, industrial coatings have a large variety of applications across all industries. Hence Kansai Nerolac’s product spectrum offers the entire gamut of comprehensive coating systems, ranging from basic Primers and Lacquers to Coil Coats, Heat Resistant Paints and Metal Decoration coatings.

Various types of Industrial paints manufactured are

GENERAL INDUSTRIAL COATINGS
HIGH PERFORMANCE COATINGS
POWDER COATINGS
COIL COATINGS
AUTOMOTIVE COATINGS
AUTOREFINISH PAINTS
FLOOR COATINGS

Its product range applications includes

Barrel coating
Containers
Fan coatings
Gas cylinder coatings
Glass coatings
Helmets
Material handling equipments
TV cabinets.
TWO wheelers
Automobiles
And much more.

Some of the esteemed customers of the company include

And many more.

Kansai is among the world’s top 10 coating manufacturers.

Financials

For the 2nd Qtr Ended Sept 2021

Company declared Revenue of Rs.1521 Crores a growth of 16.2% over the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
EBITDA was at Rs.165 Crores, a degrowth of 37.3% and PAT there was a degrowth of 38.1% for Q2.
For half year, the revenue growth is at 48.3% and EBITDA the growth of 3.3% and PAT the growth of 9% over the same period of the previous year.
In this quarter company witnessed significant hardening of raw material prices and the level of inflation was like never seen before it was unprecedented. In view of this situation company’s approach was to strike a balance between topline and bottomline

For the year ended March 2021

Revenue from Operations for the year aggregated to Rs 4,690.00 Crores as compared to Rs 4,943.17 Crores for the previous year, reflecting a de-growth of 5.1%. During the year, Company took major steps to reduce operating costs. Cost reduction was achieved through innovative ideas, renegotiations, and strong budgetary control. These initiatives resulted in improvement in the bottom line.
PBDIT (before exceptional item) for the year was higher at Rs 833.08 Crores compared to Rs 781.62 Crores reflecting a growth of 6.6%.
Other income was higher at Rs 38.71 Crores as compared to Rs 26.86 Crores of the previous year.
PBT (before exceptional item) for the year was Rs 725.33 Crores as compared to Rs 683.60 Crores of the previous year reflecting a growth of 6.1% over previous year. PAT is lower at Rs 530.99 Crores compared to Rs 535.40 Crores, resulting in de-growth of 0.8%.

Managements Comments

In terms of price increase, because the inflation has been quite high company has taken prices in line with the industry. In fact in the past quarters some of the pricing increase have taken ahead of the industry also and company also has plans to take further increase so that it can mitigate the impact of inflation.
On the industrials side, the demand outlook was getting better but unfortunately shortages of semiconductors resulted in production drop mainly in the passenger vehicles segment. However company continues it focus to win new business based on the new technologies.
In two wheeler segment also there is some impact but not as high as it is but in two wheeler the demand remains subdued mainly the rural demand did not kicked off so there the growth is lower. Within the two wheeler scooter segment is better than the mobile and commercial vehicles and tractors are continuing to do well.
On account of unprecedented inflation Kansai Nerolac is working very closely with its customers to arrive at win-win situation due to pricing pressures.
Company Supplies based on just in time system as a result it has to maintain higher inventory of some of the critical raw materials in order to avoid paying premium for these supplies.
In automotive the growth system from the demand point of view it is good but the shortages and therefore the production drop that we still feel that that will impact the business and it will take some time to come back to the normalcy in the auto part
Despite challenges with the Automobile sector , chip shortages and much more Kansai Nerolac has gained the market share.
Company has taken certain initiatives in auto business by going aggressive on coil coating, rebar and powder and a lot of new segments have been added as a result some of the weakness which was there in the auto got compensated.
As most of the players are trying in EVs today, other than the existing players the new players are getting it painted from outside ancillaries and all the ancillaries are customers customers of Kansai Nerolac.
Growth rates for the company has been quite similar, overall growth is 16.2% and growth rate in decorative and industrial are similar . Company expects to be on the course to maintain last year’s high EBITDA margins, maybe slightly lower as guided by the management.

Sectorial Outlook

It is always better for the industry when the competition intensifies. There have been very limited number of organised players in paints and it is always welcome that if any competition comes in. The reason why the paint industry has been growing consistently in double-digit for the last so many years is the penetration of the paints.

The per capita consumption of the paint, it is still about 4 kg in India, which if we compare with the other countries, is 15 kg, 20 kg, and even if we consider rural population, I think still we would still see double rate at about 8 kgs which is still very less.

When more companies are there, the more communication happens, the more awareness happens and it always helps industry to grow because industry still has a good scope in terms of increasing the penetration. It also leads to innovation.

Conclusion

Kansai Nerolac Paints Limited (KNPL) an 100 years old company , subsidiary of the Kasai Company Japan is the second largest coating company in India and a market leader in Industrial Coatings. In recent times company had been struggling due to increasing inflation and the pricing pressure which as per the management, has been passed on to the customers over 3-4 phases and currently in terms of the pricing Kansai Nerolac has been at with the industry. Stability in the prices should help the company in the coming period. Also Revival in passenger vehicle sales and strong demand momentum in industrial paints would help in a recovery in 45% of KNL’s revenue portfolio. Company has been Focusing on improving product mix towards premium products which would help drive profitability, going forward. Over the past period company did extensive cost control supported cost reduction as a result despite stable toppling growth there was some improvement in the bottomline for the company. Going forward management expects margins to be more or less on similar lines to the ones seen in 2019 and with the strong revival and mitigation of the chip shortage, auto sales coming back to the normal levels with help company see significant improvements in the financials for the coming period.

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