DEEPAK NITRITE LTD

Deepak Nitrite Limited (DNL) is a prominent chemical manufacturing company. The Company manufactures Advanced Intermediates. It has a diversified portfolio of chemical intermediates that cater to various end-user industries and falls under Strategic Business Units (SBUs) of Basic Chemicals (BC), Fine and Speciality Chemicals (FSC) and Performance Products (PP). Company is having two state-of-the-art pilot facilities, one each at Roha, Maharashtra and Nandesari, Gujarat. The pilot plants act as link between R&D and commercial production of various intermediates used in Agrochemicals, Dyes, Pharmaceuticals etc. Deepak Nitrite Limited was incorporated in June, 1970. In 1984-1985, the company started to manufacture 3000 TPA concentrated nitric acid and in the same year the company commissioned its hexamine plant. During the year, the company acquired 31 acres of land in village Kareli in District Bharuch. During the year 1986-1987, the company started the production of new items namely, Guanidine Nitrate and Hydroxylamine Sulphate. During the year the 1987-89, the company commissioned of the second CAN plant. During the year 1994-1995, the company successfully achieved rated capacity utilization for the whole year the Nitroaromatic plant's capacity being enhanced in a phased manner and in the same year the company developed a new hydrogenation plant being set up at Taloja. During the year 1995-1996, the company's Sahyadri Dyestuffs & Chemical Division developed new product for exclusive customers in Europe and USA. During the year 1996-1997, the company's Taloja Chemical division established the plant for Hydrogenation of Nitromatics at Taloja and started commercial production of Toluidines. During the year 1999-2000, the company acquired 68.76 % equity capital of Aryan Pesticides Ltd (APL). In the same year, the company increased installed capacity of Nitro Aromatics from 16,500 MTS to 19,000 MTS. During the year 2000-2001, the company's Taloja Chemical division commissioned the second stream of hydrogenation thereby giving an additional capacity. Also, the company increased the installed capacity of Aromatics Amines from 4500 MTS to 6,600 MTS. During the year 2003-2004, Aryan Pesticides Ltd amalgamated with Deepak Nitrite Limited with effect from 31 March 2004. During the year 2004-2005, the company increased installed capacity of Inorganic Salts from 36,100 MTS to 36,430 MTS, Nitro Aromatics from 20,000 MTS to 24,000 MTS and Aromatics Amines from 6,600 MTS to 9,600MTS. During 2006-07, the company acquired the DASDA business of Vasant Chemical Limited, with effect from 1 August 2006 on a going concern basis, for a consideration of Rs. 55 crores. In 2010, the company launched products in the Fuel Additive Space. The company commenced first stream for commercial production of Optical Brightening Agent (OBA) for the year ended 2013. During the financial year ended 31 March 2014, Deepak Nitrite registered its highest ever turnover of Rs 1,269.62 crore. During the year, your company decided to realign its operations into Strategic Business Units (SBUs) to intensify focus on individual businesses to drive accelerated growth of top and bottom line. The company's present business segments of Organic Intermediates, Inorganic Intermediates and Fine & Speciality Chemicals will be reorganised into three SBUs, viz. (i) Bulk Commodities & Chemicals, (ii) Fine & Speciality Chemicals and (iii) Fluorescent Whitening Agent (FWA). The Brownfield expansion at the company's Nandesari facility was commissioned in June 2013 and commenced commercial production during the first half of FY 2013-14. This expansion has enhanced the production capacity for Inorganic Salts in which the company is the market leader in India. During the year under review, Deepak Nitrite incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary Deepak Nitrite Corporation, LLC in North Carolina, USA to take care of marketing & operations part of customers in Northern and Southern American region. During the financial year ended 31 March 2015, Deepak Nitrite's Greenfield Plant at Dahej, Dist. Bharuch in the State of Gujarat, for manufacturing Optical Brightening Agents (OBA) was fully commissioned. With a view to broadbase the investor base by encouraging the participation of the small investors and also to increase the liquidity of Equity Shares of the company, the Board of Directors of Deepak Nitrite at its meeting held on May 2, 2014 have recommended the sub-division of each Equity Share of face value of Rs. 10/- of the company into 5 Equity Shares of face value Rs. 2/- each. The Board of Directors at their meeting held on May 2, 2014 have recommended the issue of Bonus Shares in the proportion of 1 new Equity Share of Rs. 2/- each fully paid-up for every 1 existing Equity Share of Rs. 2/- each of the company (post-sub-division of the Equity Share Capital of the company) held by the shareholders on the Record Dates to be fixed by the Board / Committee of the Board. The company's Board of Directors at their meeting held on May 2, 2014 decided to repay all the Fixed Deposits accepted by the company along with the interest thereon and accordingly, all the Fixed Deposits outstanding as on April 1, 2014 along with interest thereon have been repaid by your Company during the Financial Year. The Board of Directors of Deepak Nitrite's at their meeting held on August 7, 2014 approved to undertake a Greenfield project for manufacturing Phenol and Acetone at Dahej, in the State of Gujarat. The said Project is to be funded with a mix of Debt and Equity of 60:40 and is being implemented through the company's Wholly Owned Subsidiary Company - Deepak Phenolics Limited. The capacity of the Phenol Plant shall be 200,000 TPA and that of co-product Acetone shall be 120,000 TPA. Phenol is widely used in the manufacturing of various commercial products and finds applications in Laminates, Foundry, Automobile lining, etc. while Acetone finds applications in Pharmaceuticals, Paints, and Adhesives & Thinners etc. Currently, a majority of India's Phenol and Acetone requirement is met by imports. In order to raise the funds for the proposed Phenol and Acetone Project at Dahej, Deepak Nitrite's Board of Directors at their meeting held on January 22, 2015 approved issuance of Equity Shares for an aggregate amount upto Rs 200 crores on private placement basis through Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP). Deepak Nitrite launched a special grade of Sodium Nitrite for exports market in FY 2015-16. During the financial year ended 31 March 2016, Deepak Nitrite strengthened its Fine & Speciality Chemicals segment by successfully foraying into high-potential and fast-growing segments of pharma and personal care intermediates. Within pharma and personal care, the company started offering multiple new drug intermediates for which it received favourable response from multinational companies. During the year, deeper customer engagement in Fluorescent Whitening Agent (FWA) segment and finalisation of the plan for Phenol & Acetone project has been other notable achievements.In order to monetise the value of the company's unutilised assets and improve shareholders value by freeing up capital to facilitate growth, the company's Board of Directors had approved the sale of freehold land and surrender / assignment of leasehold rights in respect of lands situated at Sinhagad Road, Pune, Maharashtra. During April 2016, the said transactions were concluded for a total consideration of Rs 79.26 crore. During FY 2015-16, Deepak Nitrite offered Equity Shares to the Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) on private placement basis through Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP). Accordingly, 11,750,000 Equity Shares of Rs 2/- each were allotted to QIBs on January 6, 2016 at an issue price of Rs 70.90 per Equity Share (including premium of Rs 68.90 per Equity Share). The QIP issue proceeds aggregating to Rs 83.31 crore will be utilized in accordance with the objects stated in the offer document. During the financial year ended 31 March 2017, Deepak Nitrite encountered multiple headwinds in the form of temporary closure of one of the three units at its Hyderabad facility due to excessive flooding and the resulting issues related to pollution. In October 2016, Deepak Nitrite faced an accidental fire at one of the distillation columns of the manufacturing facility at Roha, which impacted the performance. During the year under review, the company leveraged its strength to switch to enhance the volumes of value added products to mitigate impact from down-cycle of existing product categories. Towards the end of the year, there was some disruption in demand in end-user industries of certain customers as a result of the demonetisation initiative. There were several positives as the company witnessed encouraging demand in some of its key products and witnessed favourable trends in newer products launched in the complementary sub-segments. The company was able to incorporate a turnaround in its performance in the fourth quarter driving a rapid recovery from impact of the developments which took place in the third quarter through diversification in products, geographies, customer segments and end-user industries. As a part of ongoing transformation, the company has during the year renamed its Bulk Chemicals and Commodity segment as Basic Chemicals' and the Fluorescent Whitening Agents segment as Performance Products' segment. With this, the product portfolio now comprises of expanded range of offerings thereby helping the company to further strengthen its position in the market. During FY 2016-17, Deepak Nitrite offered Equity Shares to the Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) on private placement basis through Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP), in accordance with Chapter VIII of SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2009. Accordingly, 1,44,23,076 Equity Shares of Rs 2/- each were allotted to QIBs on March 7, 2017 at an issue price of Rs 104 per Equity Share (including premium of Rs 102 per Equity Share). The QIP issue proceeds aggregating to Rs 150 crores will be utilised in accordance with the objects stated in the offer document. In October 2016, Deepak Nitrite had faced an accidental fire at one of the distillation columns of the manufacturing facility at Roha, which had impacted the performance. During the financial year ended 31 March 2018, all the units at Roha resumed full operations which enabled the company to deliver balanced growth with contribution from all the three Strategic Business Units (SBUs), thereby recovering from the one-off events that occurred last year. During FY 2017-18, Deepak Nitrite received Rs 7.50 crores as an interim payment against insurance claims due to fire at one of the distillation columns of the manufacturing facility at Roha. During the year under review, the company undertook several initiatives to fortify its offerings by increasing integration of manufacturing process for select high value products in the Fine & Speciality Chemicals (FSC) segment and has received regulator's clearances for commencing operations, which will enable the company to further enhance profitability. During FY 2017-18, Deepak Nitrite's wholly owned subsidiary Deepak Phenolics Limited (DPL) started seed marketing of Phenol/Acetone. During FY 2017-18, Deepak Nitrite offered Equity Shares to the Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) on private placement basis through Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP). Accordingly, 56,81,775 Equity Shares of Rs 2/- each were allotted to QIBs on January 30, 2018 at an issue price of Rs 264/- per Equity Share (including share premium of Rs 262/- per Equity Share). The QIP issue proceeds aggregating to Rs 150 Crores will be utilized in accordance with the objects stated in the offer document. During FY 2017-18, Deepak Nitrite sold 77,500 shares held in Deepak Gulf LLC (DGL), a limited liability company incorporated in the Sultanate of Oman, being 31% of total share capital of DGL. Post the said transaction; Deepak Nitrite's shareholding in DGL is 45,000 shares, representing 18% total share capital of DGL. Consequently, DGL ceased to be Associate of Deepak Nitrite with effect from March 16, 2018. During FY 2018-19, Deepak Phenolics Limited (DPL), commenced commercial production at a plant at Dahej to manufacture 200,000 MTPA of Phenol and 120,000 MTPA of its co-product Acetone on November 1, 2018. During the year 2019, the Company entailed a capital expenditure of around Rs 67 Crore towards Brownfield expansions in Basic Chemicals and Fine & Specialty Chemicals segments, to enhance capacities of major products and also towards increasing operational efficiencies. It achieved a key milestone by replacing the bulk of imports of Phenol and Acetone in the local market having a market share of around 55% in the country. It has been producing and selling pharma grade acetone. In FY 2019-20, Deepak Phenolics Limited (DPL), a subsidiary, completed its operations of about 90% capacity utilisation, a testament to plant operators and domestic customers' desire to partner with an Indian supplier. During the Financial Year 2020-21, Company commenced land development at its newly procured site in Dahej, which is approximately 127 acres. In April 2020, Deepak Phenolics Limited (DPL), subsidiary of the Company, commissioned commercial production of IPA plant at Dahej. With effect from October 9, 2020, it had established a wholly-owned subsidiary, Deepak Clean Tech Limited' (DCTL), to produce chemical and pharma intermediate products, interwoven with their existing products and process chemistry knowledge, also towards creating new platforms like fluorination and photochlorination. In FY'22, Company commenced the production of Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) at its manufacturing facility in Dahej and doubled production capacity to 60,000 MTPA. It commissioned a brownfield expansion project of IPA at Nandesari, Roha and Taloja plants in Dec' 21. During 2022-23, the Company commissioned the installation of Sulfuric Acid Concentration (SAC) unit at Nandesari Plant; undertook debottlenecking and commissioning of capacity of Phenol plant. During the year 2024, the Company commissioned BTF plant Operations in March 2024 at Dahej, Gujarat. It also commissioned the Fluorination Plant in Dahej in 2023-24. On August 11, 2023, Company acquired 31.72% equity stake in Deepak Oman Industries LLC (SFZ) (DOIL) by subscribing to 7,70,000 equity shares of OMR 1 each for the consideration of Rs 16.55 Crores. Further, on March 20, 2024 , Company acquired, through acquisition as well as by way of subscription, additional 19.28% equity stake in DOIL i.e. 4,95,824 equity shares of OMR 1 each for the consideration of Rs 10.69 Crores. Thereby, DOIL was treated as an Associate up to March 19, 2024 and Subsidiary thereafter during the period ended March 31, 2024. The Company launched a unique waste-to-wealth initiative to recover high-value Acetophenone from low-value by-product streams in FY25.