Ashok Jaipuria, chairman & managing director. Photo Cosmo First
Cosmo First, a global leader in specialty films and an emerging player in specialty chemicals, announced recently another buyback of fully paid-up equity shares through a tender route from the existing shareholders on a voluntary and proportionate basis.
The buyback price is fixed at Rs 1,070 per share (face value Rs 10 per share) representing a premium of 42% over the closing price as on 28November 2022 being the date on which the Company has intimated the stock exchanges its intention to consider the buyback proposal.
The buyback by Cosmo First will be up to 10.09 lakhs shares with a buyback size of Rs 108 crores (excluding taxes and transaction costs) and shall be funded with surplus cash.
Commenting on the buyback rationale, Ashok Jaipuria, chairman & managing director, Cosmo First said “Cosmo has always believed in sharing prosperity with its shareholders. The buyback reflects strong cashflows and management’s confidence in continued growth prospects in all its business verticals. The buyback will lead to further improved EPS, ROE and ROCE”.
The Board fixed 14 December 2022 as the record date for the purpose of ascertaining the eligibility of the shareholders for the buyback.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
