HLL achieves record turnover

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 11: The Hindustan Latex Ltd (HLL), the contraceptive major, has achieved a record turnover of Rs 213 crore and Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs 22.65 crore, its Chairman and Managing Director M Ayyappan today said.

Claiming it was the highest turnover and profit ever achieved by the company, he said HLL had drawn up plans to achieve a turnover of Rs 320 crore for the current financial year 2006-07, a growth of 50 per cent over last year.

He said in order to achieve a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore by 2010, HLL would move to healthcare sector.

He told media persons HLL paid an interim dividend, amounting Rs 232.50 lakh, to the Central government.

Mr Ayyappan said the HLL was one of the few manufacturers at the global level that achieved a record production of one billion condoms at its plants at Peroorkada in the district and Kangagala in Karnataka.

Though the condom market had not witnessed significant growth last year, the HLL's market share for its range of condoms grew by over 17 per cent in the country, he said.

This was achieved with the continuous innovation, value addition and introduction of a stream of new variants, he added.

HLL now had marketed 12 type of contraceptives, including Spiral condom and Phosphorescent Glow condom. Recently the company came up with 'Confidom Female Condom,' the only female controlled barrier method in the world.

The company had entered into an agreement with the Female Health Company of the US to market this product. Currently the product was in use in over 70 countries, he claimed.

Last year the HLL had installed 1,11,025 condom vending machines (CVMs) across the country. On seeing good response from the public, company planned to install another 10,000 CVMs this year, the CMD added.

UNI