Cmp-110
Balmer Lawrie & Co is a 153 years old almost debt free Govt Company. The company is engaged in products such as steel barrels, industrial greases, specialty lubricants, corporate travel and logistics services. It has a presence in performance chemicals and logistics infrastructure. It is also the largest manufacturer of steel barrels in India. Headquatered in Kolkata company has offices throughout India and also in Bedford UK.
Founded in 1867 in Kolkata , India by two Scotsmen: George Stephen Balmer and Alexander Lawrie. Today Balmer Lawrie is a Mini-Ratna I Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. It became a Private limited company in 1924 with a Paid up share capital of ₹40 lakhs, a Public limited company in 1936 and then a Government of India Enterprise in 1972.
Today Balmer Lawrie has six business units – Industrial Packaging, Greases & Lubricants, Leather Chemicals, Travel & Vacations, Logistics and Refinery & Oil Field Services with offices spread across the country and abroad.
There was hardly any business where Balmer Lawrie did not delve into in its formative years, whether it was from Tea to Shipping, Insurance to Banking or Trading to Manufacturing. The company has left a mark of its own at every step of its remarkable corporate journey. Balmer Lawrie also grew inorganically through various JVs over the period of time.
Industrial Packing-:
Balmer Lawrie is the largest manufacturer of MS Drums in India and is the market leader in the industry with over 40% market share. Company has 6 manufacturing units across the country including a state-of-the-art High Throughput Plant at Taloja, Navi Mumbai. Its customer segments include PSU Oil, MNC Oil, Local Oil, Transformer Oil, Chemicals, Additives, Agrochemicals, Bitumen and Bitumen emulsion, Food & Fruit Pulp companies and Exports.
The company offer UN certified products and can also deliver drums confirming to BIS or specific customer specifications.
Balmer Lawrie has two joint ventures in this domain:
- Balmer Lawrie – Van Leer Ltd. in India which was formed in 1993 and manufactures steel drum closures and plastic containers. Van Leer Industries was acquired by Greif Inc. Corporation headquartered in Delaware, Ohio; USA and then partnered with BL in BLVL. Greif Inc. Corporation is a global leader in industrial containers and products
- Balmer Lawrie [UAE] LLC, at UAE which was formed in 1978. BLUAE, a pioneering container manufacturing company in the Arabian Gulf, is a manufacturer of steel drums, tin and plastic containers of different capacities. The major user industries it caters to include lubricants, chemicals, paints, edible oils and ghee industries. BL (UAE) is a market leader in the packaging industry
Greases & Lubricants
Balmer Lawrie pioneered grease manufacturing in India in 1934 at Sewree (Mumbai) and in 1937 at Kolkata. With about eight decades of manufacturing experience Balmer Lawrie’s Balmerol greases are the leaders in their categories.
Balmer Lawrie is the first choice of major customers like Indian Defence, Mining, Railways, major industries like Steel, Cement, Non Ferrous Metals, Coal, Sponge Iron, Jute, Sugar, Engineering and Automobile companies etc
Leather Business
Balmer Lawrie entered into Leather Chemicals business in 1983 by taking up manufacture of synthetic Fatliquors in Chennai. Since then, Balmer Lawrie has achieved many milestones, foremost amongst which is becoming the market leader in fatliquor segment. Balmer Lawrie has a state of the art Product Development Center at Chennai, which is fully equipped with all modern facilities to develop and evaluate leather chemicals. It has Technical Service Centers spread all over India in cities such as Kolkata, Kanpur, Ranipet, Ambur & Chennai.
The manufacturing plant is with a state of the art Zero Liquid Discharge facility (ZLD), certified with ISO 9001, 14001 and OHSAS 18001.
Refinery and Oil Field Services
Balmer Lawrie specialize in providing value added technical services focusing on the oil & gas Industry. In this domain, the emphasis is on providing services, centered on pollution prevention & recovery of hydrocarbon from wastes. The company is one of the pioneers of Mechanized Oily Sludge processing in India, possessing state of the art technology & thorough expertise in the field, having successfully executed projects with all major refineries & oil installations in the country.
Online Travel portal
Balmer Lawrie also runs and maintains online travel portal similar to make my trip through which flight tickets , vacation stays , trips can be booked . The portal is maintained under the brand FlyLikeKing.com
Logistics
Logistics Infrastructure
Balmer Lawrie has three state of the art Container Freight Stations (CFSs) at Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai that form part of SBU: The warehousing and distribution facilities at Kolkata and Coimbatore are testimony to Balmer Lawrie’s ability to successfully handle a whole range of cargo promptly and safely. The CFSs are wholly equipped for secure handling and on time delivery of cargo, whether it is over dimensional, perishable, temperature sensitive or standard cargo. All the CFSs are accredited with ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007 accreditation.
Logistics Service
Balmer Lawrie’s venture into Logistic Services (LS) dates back to the 19th century. Since then it has grown exponentially, offering a wide range of totally seamless logistic solutions for its clients. With a national as well as global network run by an able team of professionals and aided by latest communication facilities, LS offers total logistic solutions for all types of cargo.
As an accredited IATA agent, it handles both inbound and outbound cargo including normal, over dimensional, perishable, temperature sensitive and dangerous consignments. Ensuring door to door services from anywhere in the country to anywhere on the globe, Balmer Lawrie Logistics Services has also made its presence felt in air craft chartering, air lifting of sensitive defence equipments such as helicopters, missiles and satellite parts to a wide array of destinations around the world.
Balmer Lawrie is today among India’s leading ocean cargo operators with services that include non-vessel operating common carriers (N.V.O.C.C), multi modal transport operation, vessel chartering , door to door movement for break bulk , project cargo logistic management and turnkey execution. Ably backed by multi-location Logistic Infrastructure services, the Logistics Services division can ensure quick storage and retrieval for all its cargo across the country.
Key Aspects
- Balmer Lawrie is almost debt free company
- Balmer Lawrie is a Government Company
- Operating profit margin is steady over 13% since last 5 years.
- Dividend yield of the stock stands at around 6.63%.
- Balmer Lawrie is a constant dividend paying company with dividend payout ratio of above 60 % over last 3 years.
- Company has Solid ROCE of above 15%.
- Company has cash and Equivalents of about Rs 444 Cr.
- Company Reserves and surplus of more than Rs1400 crores.
Conclusion
With diversified business and government company along with consistent track record of dividend payout Balmer Lawrie is worth exploring for long term. Over the Past 3-4 years Balmer Lawrie is among only few stocks from psi which have been suggested almost thrice in darkhorsestocks and each time the stock has delivered meaningful returns. However users are advised to take into consideration that past dividend payout does not mean the company is going to keep paying the same amount of dividend every year.
Note-: Balmer Lawrie has been suggested twice before on DARKHORSESTOCKS. However when looking at the total returns one may not be able to get the idea of exact returns as , since suggestion in darkhorsestocks over the past 3 years Balmer Lawrie has declared higher and higher dividends with 1:2 Bonus issue in 2018. But overall it has delivered decent returns.
