Chairman Speech
  Ladies and Gentlemen,
  It gives me immense pleasure to welcome all of you to this Seventeenth Annual General Meeting of your Company. Your interest in the development of the Company is a source of motivation to all of us.
  It is a great privilege to address you and share with you the highlights of the performance of the Company during the year 2007-08 and our future plans.
  The Annual Report for the year 2007-08 containing the Audited Balance Sheet of the Company as at 31st March 2008 and the Profit & Loss Account for the year ended 31st March, 2008 together with the Notice of this Meeting and Reports of your Directors and Auditors thereon have already been circulated to you and with your kind permission, I take them as read.
  Performance
  The year gone by was momentous for our company and the most significant in terms of our long-term growth. Your Company has taken various strategic initiatives to fulfill its vision of being a long term leader in Coding and Marking industry. Major events of the year include the following:
  Until last year your Company was primarily a distributor and service provider for foreign manufacturers. In recent years the Indian Coding & Marking market has been showing rapid growth and an overall significant volume even in comparison with some other world markets. This has enabled economies of scale in local manufacturing and we fully realized that to create value over the long-term we must have strong local manufacturing capabilities and our own brand. Keeping this in mind, your Company has decided to manufacture the entire range of Coding & Marking products at our Nalagarh facility. The requisite Infrastructure has already been created at Nalagarh and the factory is already online.
  I am pleased to inform you that your Company has entered into agreements with M/s. KBA-Metronic AG, Germany – a world technology leader in Coding, Marking, and Printing. KBA-Metronic AG is a fully owned subsidiary of Koenig & Bauer AG, the world’s third largest printing company having annual sales in excess of 2 billion Euros. Our tie-up will enable KBA-Metronic’s world leading Continuous Ink Jet Printer technology being transferred to your company. Several processes have already been completed and an assembly line has already been setup and in operation. We are currently assembling ink-jet printers from imported kits and gradually reducing the import content with in-house manufactured or locally sourced components & sub-assemblies and as of this current date approximately 30% of the printers by value are already being manufactured in India. We are confident of continuing our rapid progress and by December 2008 we expect a significant increase in localization by value enabling a substantial cost reduction and an enhanced grasp of Continuous Inkjet Printer Manufacturing Technology.
  With this tie-up your company will be the first Indian manufacture of Industrial Inkjet Printers in India.
  On similar lines Your Company has also entered into technical collaborations for manufacturing of Thermal Transfer Overprinters, Large Character Drop-on-Demand Printers, and Industrial Inkjet Fluids and has made similar levels of progress in manufacturing of the same. We expect production of a few models with significant localization by December 2008.
  Last July we commenced production of Thermal Ink Coders and Ink Rolls and the product quality has been accepted at par with imported products.
  We will be selling all products under our own brand name or under a co-branding agreement
  Inspite of all the turbulence Your Company has maintained sales of Printers during the year under review and our new range of printers has been well received in the market
  During the year under review, total revenue of the Company was Rs. 4,320 lacs as compared to previous year of Rs. 4,190 lacs. Profit after taxes has increased to Rs. 626.45 lacs as compared to previous year of Rs. 568.08 lacs.
  The Board of Directors has recommended a dividend of Re. 2.00 per share for the year under review.
  Coming to the first quarter of 2008-09, the turnover of the Company was Rs. 810 Lacs as compared to previous year of Rs.1338 lacs. This is primarily due to change in product line of Your Company which will yield solid long-term growth.
  Real Estate
  I am pleased to inform you that your Company has entered into an MOU towards purchase of property adjoining to the Company’s already existing plot at Chandivali, Andheri East, Mumbai. This will lead an increase in value of our already existing plot and Your Company will look at various options for realizing value from the same at an appropriate time.
  Future Prospects
  By taking various initiatives as narrated above the long-term growth path to become the leader in the Indian Coding & Marking Industry is clear.
  We have the confidence to rise to the many challenges and to improve our market share position and competitiveness. We are committed to enhance the scale, competitiveness, efficiency and productivity of our business, benchmarked to global, world-class standards. We believe these commitments and beliefs will contribute to the successful accomplishments of all our future growth endeavors.
  Acknowledgement
  On behalf of the Board and personally, I thank you all the stake-holders for their confidence and support.
  I wish to place on record the exemplary dedication and the hard work of the management and employees of the Company, which has led to the growth of the Company. The Company’s quest towards creating value would not have possible but for the support that my colleagues and I received from all customers, business associates and the shareholders. I am grateful to them for their continued confidence in the management.
  To my colleagues on the Board, I owe a great deal of gratitude for their prudent counsel and continued guidance.
  Basant Kabra
  Chairman