Coromandel Fertilisers Limited renamed as Coromandel International Limited

Hyderabad|India|September'2009: Coromandel International Limited (formerly Coromandel Fertilisers Limited), a flagship company of the Murugappa Group and one of India’s leading fertiliser company, today announced its plans to grow and transform the business into a diversified agri-solution and rural marketing company with global ambitions. Coromandel International Limited also unveiled its new corporate brand identity comprising a new logo, brand vision and values reflecting the Company’s changed persona. The Company has embarked on a re-branding exercise signaling change and re-energising the organisation, its employees, partners, customers and shareholders. The new brand idea is “Maximise” which is a step to convey Coromandel’s progressive spirit which depicts its global scale of operations, best internal resource, people, technology and world class processes.

The brand focus will be on “Maximising” productivity, progress, protection and prosperity for the stakeholders of Coromandel. It also gives a new dimension about maximising internal progress for the next level of performance, employee engagement and governance. The brand essence and values will be implemented in product development, human resources, finance, service and innovation to take Coromandel to new heights. Ray+Keshavan - The Brand Union, India’s leading brand strategy and design consulting firm has developed the corporate brand strategy and identity for the Company.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. A. Vellayan, Chairman of Coromandel International Limited said, “Over the last few decades, we have changed the face of our business. As we get ready to address wider opportunities to create wealth for our shareholders, we have evolved new ways of thinking and a new direction. Our new identity reflects the shift in our corporate identity from a large fertiliser player to a rural marketing and agri-solutions provider. The new name of the Company reflects and retains the same trust that it has been commanding from the time of its inception and now stands enhanced by the promise of newer opportunities.”

Mr. V. Ravichandran, MD, Coromandel International Limited added, “The new business environment presents new opportunities. We have looked at each business individually and adopted a strategy that best suits them respectively. Our efforts over the last several years have brought us to a stage where we are ready to really maximise the potential within our organisation. We wanted to convey to the world this new thinking and direction at Coromandel, hence the re-branding. The new brand reflects the vibrant spirit of the organisation, its energy, vitality and positivity”

Coromandel has been recording strong profitability over the years. The Company posted strong financials last year, a year which was marked by violent fluctuations in input costs. However, our well crafted strategy of raw material linkages has paid off resulting in efficient sourcing of raw materials and improved profitability.

With the new identity, the Company has embarked on an ambitious journey of aggressive growth and setting up global footprints. The Company has recently set up a separate division “Specialty Nutrients Division” (SND). This division manufactures and markets Specialty Nutrients like Zinc, Boron, Sulphur, Water Soluble Fertilisers and Organic Composts and intends to grow aggressively in the coming years. As a part of the Strategic growth plan, Coromandel plans to capture value addition and provide a direction for sustained growth.

The Company has also accelerated its retail operations plans by expanding its retail store chain Mana Gromor. Coromandel set up over 400 “Mana Gromor” retail stores across the mandal headquarters of Andhra Pradesh which caters to the needs of the farming community through farm inputs and farm productivity improvement services. A few Mana Gromor outlets also provide lifestyle products to meet the urban aspirations of the rural population. With the rural economy promising robust growth, Coromandel is expected to create substantial value enhancement through its retail operations. In the coming days this will be a new growth engine for Coromandel and will give another platform to serve its customers.

Coromandel will also focus on strengthening its global operations, its tie-ups and also foster technical and R&D initiatives. The Company, along with its Mauritius based wholly owned subsidiary, increased its equity stake in Foskor Limited, South Africa a leading supplier of phosphoric acid which is a key intermediate for the manufacture of fertilisers. The Company has a Technical Services Agreement with Foskor and is actively managing the process plants enabling the Company an assured supply of this key raw material. Coromandel, jointly with Groupe Chimique Tunisien has invested in a joint venture company called TIFERT to setup a Phosphoric Acid plant in Tunisia which will ensure uninterrupted supply of phosphoric acid.

The Pesticides division also performed well with turnover and EBIDTA growth of 23% and 25% respectively. In order to tap the huge opportunity in agro-chemicals available in the Latin American market, Coromandel has opened a wholly owned subsidiary in Brazil that will engage in the sale of its own manufactured products as well as traded products. The overall focus of the Company is to enhance its scale of operations worldwide and position itself as a major player in the Indian agro business industry.