Strife Chances Spur Venue Change

Metal Box India Ltd held its annual general meeting in New Delhi on Saturday in a bid to avoid any disruption by union leaders. The AGM was held in New Delhi for the first time after the change in the registered office of the company from Calcutta to New Delhi.

Chairman Vinod Krishna in his address said that it had become extremely difficult to hold the AGM in Calcutta due to the militancy of union leaders there.

He further pointed out that the company had been directed by a court of law to hold the AGM within July 1998 at New Delhi.

 

The last AGM of the company was held 18 months ago in Calcutta amid unruly scenes and disruption by union leaders.

The attendance at the New Delhi venue was thin with about 50 shareholders having attended it.

A company release says that several shareholders wanted that surplus assets of the company be transacted so that its whopping accumulated losses of Rs 111 crore get wiped out. They also wanted to know why the Worli factory premises had not been transacted. Krishna had replied saying that the Worli premises had been overvalued under union pressure.

He further said that on an application moved by the ANZ Grindlays Bank and supported by the Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India, the Delhi High Court ordered that the premises be re-evalued by a valuer to be appointed by the ICICI in consultation with banks and financial institutions. He mentioned that the re-evaluation indicated a value drop of Rs 40 crore against the previous valuation. "This cannot be due to a drop in real estate market alone", he said.

Answering questions of shareholders, the chairman said that approximately a Rs 20 crore drop is on account of over valuation in 1996 of the Worli premises and that balance is due to the slackness in the real estate market in Mumbai.

Sales and other income for the financial year 1996-97 amounted to Rs 14.6 crore. The loss before interest and depreciation for the 18-month financial year 1996-97 amounted to Rs 5.57 crore. The cumulative losses of the company as on September 30, 1997 are Rs 111 crore.