Despite these observations, one is impressed by its record highest sales and profitability. The company's shareholders must have rejoiced but its attractive profit distribution profile which has driven its shares market value to unprecedented heights.
Even then they would prefer to see the latest and updated financials. There are several milestones which the company attained. It crossed for the second consecutive year the billion rupee mark in sales value. Its launches of branded products ie Shezan Twist Fruit Punch," Shezan Allpure have shaken the competition.
But one should pause for a minute of silence. Because Lady Majeeda Shahnawaz, one of the Founder Directors of the company passed away on November 25, 2004. Shezan International Limited is a public limited company listed on Karachi and Lahore stock exchanges.
The company is one of the constituent members of a large industrial group namely Shahnawaz Group. Shezan International Limited was conceived as a joint venture by the Shahnawaz Group and Alliance Industrial Development Corporation of USA, in 1964 in which year the company was incorporated.
Shezan became pioneer in the field of converting fruits into pulps, concentrate and juices based on local fruits and supported by the technology of its American partners. In 1971, Shahnawaz Group purchased all shares of its American partners.
The registered office of the company and its oldest plant is located at 56 Bund Road. Its other plant is located in Karachi. The other fruit processing company of Shahnawaz Group namely Hattar Fruits Products Ltd of Hattar Industrial Estate NWFP merged into the company during the year under review.
The company is primarily engaged in the manufacturing, trading and sale of juices, pickles, jams, ketchup based on and derived from fresh fruits and vegetables. The production data of the company is appended with this column.
The market value of the share of Shezan International is being quoted at Rs 192 per share which is more than 19 times of the par value. During the last one year market value of the share remained very high between Rs 152 and Rs 238 per share.
The company has excellent track record of profit distribution in terms of uninterrupted annual dividend distribution and attractive payout rates as evidenced from the published six years statistics in the annual report 2005. For last year in 2004-05, the period under review, the company announced cash dividend at 110% and for the prior year 2003-04 the dividend was disbursed at 75%.
During the year under review, the company posted more than a billion rupees sales for the second consecutive year. The company generated sales in the sum of Rs 1.368 billion as against Rs 1.097 billion in the preceding year 2003-04 registering 24.8% growth.
The company made substantial investment in marketing promoting its extensive portfolio of brands which yielded good result in terms of higher sales.
The bottle juice continued to perform well, with its sales up 22% over the previous year. Other products in juice-related category registered a robust growth following renewed promotional and marketing campaign.
Several new juice products in tetrapak under the brand name "All Pure" were introduced during the year and were selling in line with the management expectations. Sales of jams, ketchup and pickles exceeded the targets. In addition, strong sales growth was observed in rest of the product categories. The directors emphasized on the challenging environment where costs of the significant raw materials, sugar, fuel and packaging rose to unprecedented heights. Even then there was increase in its volume sales and in gross profit margin.
During the year the company posted export sales at Rs 35.45 million as against Rs 37.73 million in the preceding year. It is reported that exports remained under pressure due to volatile security situation in its export markets and higher operational and shipping costs. However the directors are consolidating company's position in Afghanistan as well as exploring new markets in Europe and UK in particular where there is great potential for mango related products.
The company posted net profit after sales at Rs 103.24 million which is highest the in the company's history.
The leadership in the enterprise has formulated future strategy to improve profitability by further improving sales volume and optimising costs.
Rising volume of sales will be further spurred by continuing to provide customers with a variety of impeccable quality food products which appeal to their changing preferences.
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Performance Statistics (Million Rupees)
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30th June 2005 2004
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Share Capital-Paid-up: 50.00 50.00
Reserves & Surplus: 428.65 362.91
Shareholders Equity: 478.65 412.91
L.T. Debts: 25.32 24.28
Deferred Taxation: 8.24 6.10
Current Liabilities: 260.59 216.70
Fixed Assets: 158.61 143.53
Investments: 10.75 11.15
L.T. Deposits: 1.80 2.33
Current Assets: 601.64 502.98
Total Assets: 772.80 659.99
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Sales, Profit & Pay Out
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Sales: 1,367.74 1,096.59
Gross Profit: 456.97 324.37
Other Operating Income: 11.74 8.74
Operating Profit: 179.48 98.26
Finance (Cost): (4.11) (5.34)
(Depreciation): (24.07) (18.68)
Profit Before Taxation: 175.37 92.92
Profit After Taxation: 103.24 66.13
Earnings Per Share (Rs): 20.65 13.23
Dividend (%): 110.00 75
Share Price (Rs) on 10/07/06: 192.00 -
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Financial Ratios
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Price/Earning Ratios: 9.29 -
Book Value Per Share: 95.73 82.58
Price/Book Value Ratio: 2.00 -
Debt/Equity Ratio: 5:95 5:95
Current Ratio: 2.31 2.32
Asset Turn Over Ratio: 1.76 1.66
Days Receivables: 13 8
Days Inventory: 161 175
Gross Profit Margin (%): 33.41 29.58
Net Profit Margin (%): 7.55 6.03
R.O.A. (%): 13.35 10.02
R.O.C.E. (%): 20.16 14.91
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Capacity & Production (Figures in Thousands)
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Normal Annual Production
Capacity 2005 2004
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Juices Bottling Plant Crates: 5,925 4,169.92 3,669.10
Juices Tetra Pak Plant Dozen: 13,200 8,421.02 6,897.65
Squashes & Syrup Plant Dozen: 590 152.30 146.35
Jams & Ketchup Plant Dozen: 620 389.24 307.82
Pickles Plant Dozen: 87.50 98.96 80.68
Canning Plant Dozen: 180.00 97.46 100.71
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COMPANY INFORMATION: Chairman: Muneer Nawaz; Chief Executive: Saifi Chaudhry; Director & Company Secretary: Muhammad Khalid; Chief Financial Officer: Faisal Ahmed Nisar ACA; Registered Office/Head Office: 56-Bund Road Lahore-54500; Web Address: www.shezan.com Factory: 56, Bund Road Lahore-54500 Punjab; Plot No L-9, Block-22, Federal B Industrial Area Karachi 75950; Sindh; Plot No 33-34, Phase III Hattar Industrial Estate NWFP.