Part 1 : 

Executive Summary

Thai Carbon Black Public Co., Ltd. (TCB) has been established in 1978
and started production in 1980 as a Joint Venture between the Aditya
Birla Group of India and local Thai Investors to manufacture Carbon
Black with a production capacity of 16,000 Mt/year which has been
expanded many folds to the current installed capacity of 140,000 MT/year
and with debottlenecking and improvement in production process, the
company is currently producing approx 160,000 MT/ year

During the 4^(th) quarter of 2004 the company has decided to increase
its production capacity by approx 45,000 MT/ year to meet the growing
demand in domestic as well as export market due to better growth of auto
industry in Thailand and worldwide. The expansion project is currently
under advance stage of erection and installation and the company expect
to commence commercial production of the expansion project by Aug’2005.
The total project cost will be approx Baht 1,075 million including
working capital. After expansion the total production capacity of the
company will be approx.205,000 MT/ year

During the year the company has made an investment of Baht 266 Million
(approx US$ 6.63 million) in a Green Field Acrylic Fibre Project in
Egypt namely Alexandria Fibre Co., SAE. This represents 27.50%
shareholding in the equity. The objective of the investment is to create
a domestic production base and capitalize on high local demand of
acrylic fibre in Egypt. The new plant is expected to commence commercial
production by end of 2005.

The company’s subsidiary in China namely Liaoning Birla Carbon Company
Ltd. in which the company is holding 77% equity is currently expanding
its capacity as planned to produce carbon black and the expansion is
expected to be completed by 3^(rd) quarter of 2005. After expansion the
total capacity will be increased to approx. 50,000MT from the current
capacity of 10,000MT. Currently the company is operating at the capacity
of approx 11,000 MT/year and 2004 was the first full year of operation.
During the year 2004, the company has incurred loss of RMB 8.82 million
(approx Baht 43 million) The subsidiary company is expected to
considerably increase market share and sales after the expansion and
expected to generate profit. During the year the company invested Baht
79.56 million (approx US$ 2.02 million) for the remaining portion of its
equity capital investment in Chinese subsidiary. The total investment is
298 million Baht.

During the year 2004, the company has won following major quality
accreditations and national awards

-   ISO/TS 16949 : 2002 certification by BVQI (Thailand)

-   Safety, Occupational Health & Environment Award-2004 by Prime
    Minister of Thailand

-   Outstanding Company – Labour Relationship by Government of Thailand

-   Outstanding Company – Welfare Management by Government of Thailand

-   Green Factory Award –2004 by Government of Thailand

The company will further consolidate its prominent position in
international and domestic market after expansion of capacities in
Thailand and China and by further improving the quality of product,
services to customers and innovation in its process.

The company will also continue to strive for even better quality
management systems by achieving Japan QC Medal and International Quality
Rating System level 9 for overall excellence in management system.