Aries eyes Rs 200cr revenues in FY10

Mumbai-based Aries Agro Limited, a manufacturer of micronutrients and specialty fertilisers, is targeting to achieve a turnover of Rs 200 crore during the 2009-10 financial year on the back of its proposed capacity expansion, said executive director, Rahul Mirchandani.

The company is in the process of setting up three manufacturing units "� one each at Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Panvel in Maharashtra "� by September 2008 at an outlay of Rs 17 crore. Post expansion, the company's manufacturing capacity would increase to 100,800 tonne per annum (tpa), from 21,600 tpa, he told mediapersons here on Monday.

Aries Agro had, in 2007, raised Rs 58 crore through its initial public offer (IPO). The company intends to use part of these proceeds to fund its expansion.

Stating that the company was looking at new potential areas abroad on the export front, Mirchandani said Aries would invest Rs 7.5 crore in Golden Harvest, a fertiliser company based out of Sharjah, which would in turn invest 25 per cent in UAE-based Mapco Fertilisers for setting up two plants to cater to the growing demand in the region. "We expect these plants to go operational by this year end," he said.

The company toady inaugurated its secondary, micronutrients and water soluble major fertilisers manufacturing facility, its fifth in the country, at Pashamylaram in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh. The plant, touted as the country's largest manufacturing unit for micronutrients, is dedicated to two flagship brands "� Aries Agromin Max and Aries Chelamin.

Besides the capacity to manufacture 32,400 tpa, it will be engaged in the packaging of other major brands including Macrofert, Boron 20 and Fertimax with a packaging capacity of nine million pouches a year. The company has invested Rs 2.45 crore (excluding land cost) in the Hyderabad plant.

Aries Agro, which achieved a turnover of Rs 74 crore last year, expects to close the current financial year with revenues of Rs 103 crore. Its outlook for the 2008-09 fiscal is Rs 150 crore.