History of Madura Coats Ltd.

YEAR EVENTS 1889 - Madura Mills Co. Ltd., was incorporated at Madurai, Ambasamudram & Tuticorin, in Tamil Nadu & the tyre cord factory as located at Serampore in West Bengal, & was engaged in the production of cotton & blended yarns, & industrial fabrics such as tyre cord, canvas & hard duck.

1942 - J and P Coats [Indias] Pvt. Ltd., was incorporated as a private Comp. in 1942 under the name of `Jamna Thread Mills Ltd.' to manufacture sewing threads.

1945 - A and F Harvey Ltd., which was founded in 1883, was incorporated as a private limited Comp. in 1945 to manage textile & other companies in South India. It acted as the Management Agents of Madura Mills Co., Ltd., until December 1969.

- With the statutory termination of managing agencies, the Company became primarily an investment company. It also had some shipping & insurance agencies & small baling press at Tuticorin.

1953 - A factory complex was inaugurated at Koratti in Kerala for full scale manufacture of quality threads with a view of import substitution. Over the years, it built up a considerable export business in sewing threads to complement its domestic trade.

1974 - The Comp. was incorporated on 31st July, to take over the entire undertakings of Madura Mills Co., limited A and F Harvey Ltd., & J and P Coats [Indias] Pvt. Ltd., as from 1st July, in terms of the Scheme of Amalgamation approved by High Courts of Mumbai & Chennai on 6th December.

1977 - Towards the end, 23,06,286 No. of equity shares of Rs. 10 each were offered for sale at Rs. 8 per share by non-residents to the existing Indian shareholders & employees of Comp. to reduce the foreign shareholding to 40%.

- The Comp. allotted 74,08,881 No. of equity shares of Rs. 10 each for cash at a premium of Rs. 55 per share to J and P Coats, Ltd., Glassgow, U.K. to increase their equity holding in the Comp. from 39.90% to 51%.

- Simultaneously, 40,92,505 No. of equity shares of Rs. 10 each for cash at a premium of Rs. 20 per share to one or more member companies of Coats Viyella Group.

1981 - In addition, the 7% debenture stockholders of Madura Mills Co., Ltd., were allotted number of debenture stocks in the new company on the same terms & conditions.

1982 - The Pandyan Press Ltd., is a subsidiary of Company. Vaigani Investments, Ltd., & Kor Investments Ltd., became subsidiaries of Company.

- 29,07,886 Bonus Equity shares issued in prop. 1:4 & alloted on 8th March 1983.

1985 - Land, buildings & residential flats of Comp. were revalued as on 30th June & the net surplus arising out of this revaluation was transferred to Revaluation Reserve.

- 72,69,715 Bonus Equity shares in prop. 1:2.

1988 - During the period, the Comp. commenced marketing of ready made garments & `Elysee' both owned by British Van Heusen Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Coats Viylla p.l.c. U.K.

- The Comp. commenced work on installation of an additional capacity of 650 TPA of non-wovens covered by existing licence.

- The Company non-woven plant at Madurai with a capacity of 1000 TPA was implemented on 23rd February, with technical collaboration from Bonded Fibre Fabric, U.K.

- The Comp. issued 5,00,000 - 14% non-convertible debentures of Rs. 100 each on private placement basis to financial institutions. These debentures are redeemable at a premium of Rs. 5 per debenture during 1994/1998.

1989 - During the year, the Comp. launched `Van Heusen' range of shirts & trousers in the domestic market.

1990 - In the domestic market, high quality poly/cotton oxford shirting & cotton polyester cross dyed jeans material were introduced.

1991 - In industrial textiles, new products such as acrylic based awning fabric & synthetic fabric for cement industry were introduced.

- The Pandyan Press, limited closed down its operations with effect from 26th November. The Company name was changed to Madura Agro Industries Ltd.

- The Tuticorin Co., Ltd., The Papairnasam Mills Co., Ltd., Coral Mills Co., Ltd., & The Tinnevelly Mills Co., Ltd., all in Members' Voluntary Liquidation, are also subsidiaries of the Company.

- The Comp. issued 17.5% non-convertible debentures of Rs. 100 each on private placement basis of financial institutions. These debentures are redeemable at a premium of Rs. 5 per debenture during 1998/2000.

- The Comp. issued 2,00,000-17% non-convertible secured debentures of Rs. 100 each redeemable at par on 30th September 1994 on private placement basis.

- The fixed assets of Comp. were revalued as on 31st March, & the net surplus arising out of it was credited to the revaluation reserve. - 1,09,04,573 Bonus Equity shares issued in prop. 1:2.

1992 - New products such as blazers & jackets were added to garment business.

- Profit margins came under pressure due to unabsorbed fixed costs by virtue of long strikes & distrubed conditions in the country affecting adversely the supplies & sales.

- Additional capacities were created for thread, export of canvas & for domestic synthetic duck business. New machines were installed for overall upgradation in the quality of yarn & fabrics.

- In January, the clearance was obtained for establishing an export oriented unit at Tamilnadu.

- Weaving production commenced & 4 lakh metres of fabrics was exported. Spinning capacity became fully operational by September 1993.

1993 - Pursuant to the Scheme, the shareholders of amalgamating companies were allotted shares of new Comp. was follows:

- Madura Mills Co., limited For every 5 equity shares of Rs. 15 each held, 8 No. of equity shares of Rs. 10 each.

- A and F Harvey limited for every equity shares of Rs. 10 each held, four equity shares of Rs. 10 each, for every preference shares of Rs. 100 held, one preference share of Rs. 100 each.

- J and P Coats [Indias] Pvt. limited for every 2 equity shares of Rs. 10 each, 41 No. of equity shares of Rs. 10 each. - With effect from 14th June, the name of Comp. was changed from Madura Coats limited to `Coats Viyella India Ltd.'.

1994 - The Company newest division `Introd' commenced its activities of exports.

1996 - The fabrics division launched 'Easycare' variety of cotton shirting & bottomwear. Also, flame retardant 'Proban' finish was imparted to widewidth fabrics, a new project development.

- 2,594 No. of equity shares issued to NRI on RBI approval.

1997 - Steady recovery in the Coats threat business was reported. The Comp. launched Peter England in the mid priced mens' shirt market.

- 240,73,560 Rights shares issued. [Prem. Rs. 55; Prop. 1:2s] 7,394 shares kept in abeyance.

1998 - Pursuant to the demerger of Coats Viyella Plc. the name of the Comp. was changed back to `Madura Coats Ltd.'

2000 - The Management has declared a lock-out of Tuticorin Mill effective from first shift of October 9.

2002

-Madura Coats appoints Additional Director Mr Anil Dias as an Additional Director of Comp. with immediate effect.

-Board approves for principle of amalgamation of 3 wholly owned subsidiaries namely Kor investments Ltd, Vaigai Investments Ltd and Madura Agro Industries Ltd.

-Board approves for buy-back of 14714000 equity shares at a price not exeeding Rs.27 per equity share.

-Gets clearance from stock exchange for delisting of equity shares from ASE,BGSE, CSE & DSE.

-J and P coats along with Coats Plc makes open offer to acquire 36.8% stake in Madura Coats.

-Introduces 3 new collection of garments Purista, Dazzlers & Satin Trousers.

-Introduces 'Clean Jeans' denims under the Allen Solly Brand.

-J and P coats hikes its stake in the Indian Subsidiary Madura Garments from 63.2% to 93% through an open offer estimated estimated at Rs.71cr.

2003

-Sets up new brand of jeans, SF anticipating 12cr turnover.

2004

-Madura forays into men innerwear market