Action plan to shore up Spic's image

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, AUG. 17. Even as Mr. Ashwin Muthiah, the newly-appointed vice-chairman of Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (Spic), put debt reduction and scale-down of overhead cost on top of his near-term agenda, he has set in motion an exercise on how best to leverage the hitherto unexploited brand and network to shore up the unsatisfactory bottom line as well the image of the company.

Put in charge to pilot the day-to-day operations of the company, Mr. Muthiah admitted at a select press conference here yesterday that the Spic group's image had indeed taken a dent. ``The best way to spruce it up is only by business action,'' the son of Mr. A. C. Muthiah, chairman of the group, asserted. ``This (image) has to be brought up by a result-oriented action plan,'' he added.

``I have a clear responsibility for the group. I am in-charge of the internal operation of the group, managing on a day-to-day basis. Mr. A. C. Muthiah will handle all external issues. I don't want to be deviated by any issue other than what is mandated,'' he made it clear.

Mr. Muthiah laid much store by two Ps - performance and profitability. ``I am looking at what value a person can bring to the company,'' he said, dismissing suggestions that the aged would have less security under the new dispensation.

Asked how difficult would it be for him to pilot the company when he had been under adverse glare following the High Court observations in the MCC Finance case, Mr. Muthiah said, ``We have a clear intention of doing only good things. We are not here in this business environment to do bad things. If we do that, we won't have the face to walk in this country.'' While declining to comment further on the MCC Finance issue, he, however, expressed readiness to co-operate with any institution to come out with facts.

Mr. Muthiah reiterated that Spic would focus on its core business of agri-inputs. Sooner, it would roll out a time-bound action programme to restructure its non-core investments. The objective would be to ensure that funds were available in time to reduce debt. All options - from strategic alliance to hive off - were retained to revamp its non-core businesses. The company, he said, would also explore opportunities to revamp the remaining debt subsequent to action on non-core businesses. The vice-chairman said `overhead cost' was one area which needed immediate attention. Further, he also hinted at taking a hard look at input costs as well.

Mr. Muthiah regretted that the company had not bothered to leverage the brand and the network. ``These are valuable assets,'' he said and hinted at the possibility of using it as a pipeline to ``enhance the portfolio of products which we can bring under this brand.'' The objective, he said, was to see how best to use this brand network to improve income and bottom line. In this context, he said efforts were under way to assess the demand-supply gap in the agri-business area in the emerging context.

Turning to SICAL, Mr. Muthiah said the company had expertise in bulk logistics but what it lacked was more cash. He presaged lot of scope in infrastructure investment. ``We want to raise entry barriers to help us remain a big player in the field,'' he said. In this context, he pointed to the fund raising efforts via quitting non-logistics business. Further, he also hinted at induction of a strategic investor in SICAL to raise resources. A foreign consultant had been roped in to advise SICAL on financial restructuring and strategic investor, he added.

Mr. Muthiah said the Radisson budget hotel had moved out of his hand. A sale and purchase agreement had already been inked with the owners of GRT Grand Days, he said but declined to divulge the financial details of the deal. Radisson budget hotel, near the Chennai airport, was promoted by him and other shareholders from Singapore through Macnur at a cost of around Rs. 35 crores.

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Section  : Business
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