Balmer Lawrie likely to miss revenue target this fiscal

Diversified PSU Balmer Lawrie & Co is likely to miss the corporate plan revenue target for the current fiscal as it is expecting a "flat growth" in turnover, a senior company official said.

Although the business verticals of the Mini Ratna, under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, are "immune to the current slowdown" of the economy, some strategic business units such as logistics and industrial packaging (IP) have been marginally affected due to the downturn, Balmer Lawrie CMD Prabal Basu told PTI.

"The company will miss the 2020 corporate plan revenue target for the current financial year," Basu said.

The city-headquartered firm is expecting a "flat growth" this fiscal as the net turnover is likely to be in the range of last year's figure of Rs 1,857 crore, he said.

The public sector enterprise had recorded Rs 1,796 crore of net turnover in 2017-18.

It had hired consulting firm Strategy& to chart out its 2020 corporate plan.

The logistics division has been "marginally hit" due to dip in export-import activities, while barrel sales of the IP division have fallen owing to decrease in mango pulp exports, Basu said.

Talking about its travel division, he said the government bookings are less than that of previous years as the offices are opting for video-conferencing and other digital modes for meetings and interactions.

Basu also said that the slowdown in the automobile segment did not have much impact on its grease and lubricants division as the company has been largely catering to the industrial segment.