News: Reliance's German arm to become profitable in 2 yrs

(PTI 30/08/2006) New Delhi - German polyester producer Trevira, acquired by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) in 2004 for about Rs 440 crore, is on its way to a turnaround and would become profitable in the next two years, a senior company official has said. "When we acquired the company in 2004, it was bankrupt. We are hopeful of turning around the company soon and it should make profits by the next two years," Mohan Murti, Chief Representative of RIL for Europe said. The Indian petro-chemical giant had acquired Trevira, former division of multinational Hoechst, in the middle of 2004 for 80 million euros. The company, which is a highly specialised polyester producer with several valuable patents and technologies and strong R&D, operates polyester plants in Germany, Belgium and Denmark. Murti said as part of the turnaround strategy, Reliance had inducted its best practices for the operations of Trevira. "We are focusing on changing management practices, integrating operations with Reliance's way of working and increasing efficiencies and productivity," he said. However, he added that Reliance had not laid-off any of the staff of the company. "In fact, we have increased the manpower from 1,800 to 2,000 and the company has a German as Chief Executive Officer," Murti said. He said as it effected a turnaround in the company's operations, Reliance was also focusing on new markets through Trevira. "Apart from focusing on European markets, now we are growing into Asian and North American as well as South American markets," he said. Murti said Trevira had revenues of 320 million euros when it was acquired and added that "these have grown by 10 per cent over the last two years." He, however, expressed concern over the rising prices of raw materials. "We are battling this. However, the good thing is that despite a shrinking market, our share is increasing," he said.