mangalore refinery and petrochemicals ltd Management discussions

1. Economic Overview

1.1. Global Economy

Year 2022 began promisingly with a post pandemic recovery aided by monetary and fiscal policies of Governments. However, it was marred by geo-political tensions subsequently. The Russia-Ukraine crisis resulted in rising commodity prices, supply chain disruption and inflation. Major economies are undergoing structural correction and adjustments and the resulting spill overs are having a bearing on emerging markets and developing economies.

A consequence of the geopolitical tensions has been a resurgence in industrial policy. Governments are seeking to maintain or develop strategic autonomy and limit their dependence on others for crucial goods and services. Nevertheless, countries must work together to prevent fragmentation and continue to benefit from gains that economic integration will bring through trade of goods and services. The richer nations will gain from cost effectiveness by offshoring while the developing countries will gain from economic activity. Additionally, multilateral cooperation is necessary for fast-tracking the green energy transition. This will yield long-term payoffs for energy security and the costs of ongoing climate change.

Global growth is forecasted to drop to 1.7 percent in 2023 before moderately picking up to 2.7 per cent in 2024 as some ofthe headwinds begin to subside. The monetary policy interventions by the Federal Reserve, the anticipated end to the war in Ukraine and the recovery of the Chinese economy with improvement in manufacturing output are expected to contribute to this upturn.

1.2. Indian Economy

India is expected to be an outlier in a year of deceleration in global economy. Indias growth is expected to clock around 6% in FY 2023-24.

Investments will be the biggest growth drivers, primarily driven by the government sector capital spending. Furthermore, high indirect and direct tax collections have provided the government exchequer enough to spend and cushion the impact of the impending global slowdown and keep the economy buoyant. Indias unemployment rate has come down significantly in the last four years to 6.4 per cent and is lower than what it was around 2017. The government is working to ensure that job growth occurs sustainably through durable growth with focus on capex, which will help create more jobs, thus leading to a virtuous cycle of more jobs leading to higher income, which will lead to higher saving, resulting in higher investment. The advanced digital infrastructure of the country underpinned by favourable conditions for investments and energy transition are poised to take India higher.

2. Overview of Energy Industry

2.1. Global scenario

The world is seeing the onset of an energy transition. However, against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war, there is renewed focus on energy security while preparing for the transition.

It is important to guarantee security of supply and affordable energy access to a growing world population. Decarbonisation is an important driver for decision making in energy transformation but it needs to be carefully balanced with the continuing demand for oil and the importance of natural gas in energy transition.

More investments are expected in oil and gas following years of underinvestment. This is being seen in shorter cycle projects like US shale and also in longer cycle investments like off shore projects in South America. While Governments across the world are throwing additional policy weight behind clean energy, oil demand is not expected to decline sizeably before 2030. The demand centre for oil is projected to shift to Asia in the present decade. In the case of Natural Gas, global peak demand is expected only by 2035.

The scale of economic and social disruptions over the past year associated with the loss of a fraction of the worlds fossil fuels has highlighted the need for the transition away from hydrocarbons to be orderly, such that the demand for hydrocarbons falls in line with available supplies, avoiding future periods of energy shortages and higher prices. The balance between green energy and fossil fuels cannot be distorted by reckless actions. It is imperative to ensure no underinvestment in oil and gas until the world has substantially and reliably transited to green energy.

2.2. Indian scenario

Indias efforts at increasing its share of non-fossil fuels is aimed at the triple targets of sustainability, affordability and security. Solar and Wind Power are expected to dominate the Renewable Energy space. Cost competitiveness and increasing ability of integrating these variable power sources into the power systems is ensuring growth. Benign framework and targeted policies by the Government are intended to encourage power generation and also the domestic manufacture of power generating modules and equipments.

India is diversifying clean energy generation. Bioenergy-biofuels, bio methane are increasingly being adopted for decarbonisation. India has already achieved the target of 10% Ethanol Blending in Petrol. The country aims to achieve 20% Ethanol Blending by 2025.Green Hydrogen will abet decarbonisation in hard to abate sectors while its adoption in refineries and fertilizers will create demand and trigger economies of scale to kick-in. The Government is supporting this transition through funding, pricing mechanism and incentivisation. However, aspirational lifestyle of a large population driven by GDP growth will ensure oil demand into the next decade.

Energy demand in India is projected to grow at 3% per year with GDP growth of more than 7% in the present decade. Oil demand is expected to increase to 7 Million Barrels per day by 2030 from 5 Million barrels per day presently. The Government is rapidly building infrastructure across cities for mass transportation. Further, India is achieving energy savings through efficiency improvements in transportation vehicles and electrification. These efforts are expected to slow growth in oil demand but oil would continue to meet about a quarter of the incremental energy requirement by 2030. India is poised to be among the fastest growing economies in the coming year This growth trajectory cannot be fuelled by renewables alone. Oil and gas will continue to play a major role in the energy system for the next 15-20 year That oil is the best and only source of petrochemicals for the world today needs no overemphasis.

3. Markets Oil

Oil markets are volatile. However, 2022 was marked by notable swings. Russias conflict with Ukraine created uncertainty and prices spiked accordingly. The geopolitical consequences were unknown and loss of Russian oil supplies was feared. However, a redirection of Russian crude occurred with more Russian oil diverted from Europe to Asia, and more Middle Eastern and other non-Russian oil sent to Europe. Prices eased accordingly and ended the year around the same levels they were before the Russia-Ukraine conflict. With western sanctions on Russian oil and oil products, the OPEC+ group has been trying to regulate crude supplies to prevent any fall in crude price due to output loss in Russia.

While the crude oil price is important to producers, the product cracks are additionally important to refiners. The world was long on refining capacity before the pandemic but closures during 2020 and 2021caused by demand destruction due to pandemic created a deficit in 2022, with capacity falling more than 400,000 barrels per day below pre-Covid levels. Some of the refineries that have closed may never reopen considering massive investments required, the climate change pressures weighing and the fact that the payoffs could require a decade or longer. Further self-sanctioning in Europe against Russia and lower exports from China removed another hundreds of thousands of barrels per day of product exports. This led to a situation where the product cracks rose in 2022. With China working its way out of the pandemic and the likely economic headwinds during the later part of 2023 oil demand and product cracks could weigh low.

Natural Gas

While LNG cargoes flowed to the European Union at record levels because of the continents pivot away from Russian pipeline gas, imports to Asia dipped from 270 million tonnes to 250 million tonnes in 2022. Price volatility was the hallmark of 2022 with LNG prices on the Asian spot market at USD 34/ MMBTU being twice that of 2021.

Unprecedented price rise led to Rs. 13% reduction in Europes gas demand as governments responded swiftly with emergency policies, industry scaled back production, and consumers dialled down consumption. Milder winter weather conditions also helped reduce space heating needs. Gas demand in Asia dropped by 2% as a result of high LNG prices, covid related disruptions in China and consistently mild weather in Northeast Asia.

Demand is forecast to remain flat in 2023, but the outlook is subject to uncertainty, particularly with respect to Russias future actions, the economic consequences of fluctuating energy prices and the effects of economic recovery in China.

4. Crude Basket

Your company meets its crude oil requirement from various National Oil Companies of exporting countries on term basis and from open market on spot basis. During 2022-23, the Company procured 17.073 MMT of crude oil of which 13.616 MMT was imported and 3.457 MMT was sourced domestically.

New crudes Kuwait Super Light crude (Kuwait, API- 48.91), Khafji crude (Neutral Zone, API-29.07), CPC BLEND (Kazakhstan, API- 45.22), Okwuibome (Nigeria, API-38.21) and ESPO (Russia, API-34.54) were processed during the year.

5. Products

The production details are given below:

Crude	MT
Crude Processed	17116276
Products	Production (MT)
LPG	11,53,760
POLYPROPYLENE	4,40,955
MS VI	14,76,972
MS 95 RON	9,45,890
XYLOL (XYLENE)	1,294
NAPHTHA	53,579
SKO	41,253
HSD	47,11,034
HFHSD	18,70,241
ATF	19,21,107
MFO	4,32,552
FO	2,761
BITUMEN	1,66,105
PET COKE	10,02,955
SULPHUR	2,39,481
BENZENE	86,191
REFORMATE	6,80,729
Total	1,52,26,859
Distillate yield
Distillate Yield		78.09%
Fuel and Loss
Fuel and Loss		11.13%
Specific Energy Consumption
MBN		71.30%

Exports

Product	Quantity (MT)
POLYPROPYLENE	352
MS 95 RON (Non BS VI SPEC)	9,45,429
NAPHTHA	21,918
HFHSD	17,98,004
ATF	16,65,134
MFO	4,85,774
SULPHUR	21,000
BENZENE	42,287
REFORMATE	6,78,263
TOTAL	56,58,161

6. Performance of MRPL

FY 2022-23 was the first full year without COVID pandemic impact MRPL achieved the ever highest Crude Throughput at 17.12 MMT This was achieved at the lowest ever specific energy consumption of 71.30 MBN which translates to a reduction of 3.05% over that of the previous year. A high utilization of fixed assets at least specific energy consumption reflects meticulous planning across feed side supply chain, product side supply chain and operational and maintenance discipline on asset side. The efforts that were made in reliability to reduce unplanned downtime and increase turnaround length across units in the refinery have contributed to the Refinery Capacity Utilization of 114%. The distillate yield achieved was 78.09% and the Fuel and Loss being 11.13%.

Record production was achieved in key products-LPG (1153 TMT), MS (2422 TMT), ATF (1921 TMT) and HSD (6581 TMT). Petcoke product evacuation of more than 1 million tons was achieved in the year. The efforts in marketing translated to 31 new Retail Outlets being commissioned in the year that saw the total no. of operational Retail Outlets increasing to 63. The Marketing Terminal Infrastructure project at Devangonthi near Bengaluru is progressing well and is expected to be completed by Q3 of FY 2023-24. Ethanol blending with Motor Spirit is being complied with effect from 1^st Nov 2022 as per mandate and an average of 10.47% ethanol blending was achieved till 31^st March 2023.

Highest ever GRM was clocked in the first quarter of the financial year aided by favorable global product cracks. The introduction of Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) from 1^st Jul 2022 on exports of HSD and ATF lowered the GRM subsequently. Nevertheless, the company ended the year at GRM 9.88 USD/ bbl registering a net profit of 2638 Cr.

7. Key financial parameters and ratios

Key financial Ratios are presented below:

d ALIGN=RIGHT>(11.45%)

				FY 2022-23	FY 2021-22*	Change in %
Sl. No.	Ratio Name	Formula	UoM	Ratio
1.	Debtor Turnover Ratio	Sales / Average Trade Receivable	No. of times	28.35	25.39	11.63%
2.	Inventory Turnover Ratio	Sales / Average Inventory	No. of times	14.45	9.79	47.61%
3.	Interest Service Coverage Ratio (ISCR)	EBIDTA / (Interest & Finance Charges Net Of Amount Transferred To Expenditure During Construction)	No. of times	5.22	4.14	25.99%
4.	Current Ratio	Current Assets / Current Liabilities	No. of times	0.99	0.86	15.15%
5.	Debt Equity Ratio	Total Debt / Share Holders Equity	No. of times	1.70	2.93	42.02%
6.	Operating Prout Margin	(Profit Before Exceptional Item And Tax + Finance Cost - Other Income) / Revenue From Operations Net Of Excise Duty	%ge	4.88	5.51
7.	Net Prout Margin	Profit After Tax For The Period / Revenue From Operations Net Of Excise Duty	%ge	2.42	4.24	(42.78%)
8.	Return On Net Worth	(Total Comprehensive Income - Preferred Dividend) / Equity (Net Worth)	%ge	26.82	41.11	(34.76%)

*Figures for FY 2021-22 have been regrouped wherever necessary.

Major Reasons:

1. Mainly on account of increase in Sales value during current financial year.

2. Mainly on account of increase in Sales value during the current financial year.

3. Mainly due to increase in EBIDTA during the current financial year.

4. Mainly due to reduction in overall borrowings on account of profit during the current financial year.

5. Mainly due to reduction in overall borrowings on account of profit during the current financial year.

6. Decrease is on account of impact on Operating Profit margin during FY 2022-23 by levy of Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) and Road and Infrastructure Cess (RIC) on export of High Speed Diesel (HSD), Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) and Motor Spirit (MS) effective from 1stJuly 2022 and corresponding decrease in Domestic Refinery Transfer Price (RTP).

7. Decrease is on account of impact on Net Profit Margin during FY 2022-23 by levy of Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) and Road and Infrastructure Cess (RIC) on export of High Speed Diesel (HSD), Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) and Motor Spirit (MS) effective from 1st July 2022 and corresponding decrease in Domestic Refinery Transfer Price (RTP).

8 Decrease is on account of impact on Total Comprehensive Income during FY 2022-23 by levy of Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) and Road and Infrastructure Cess (RIC) on export of High Speed Diesel (HSD), Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) and Motor Spirit (MS) effective from 1stJuly 2022 and corresponding decrease in Domestic Refinery Transfer Price (RTP).

8. Opportunities and Threats

8.1. Opportunities

Millions of people in India are expected to move into middle class in the next two decades. The upward shift provides additional market for domestic refiners even while the scale of renewables picks up in the country. This phenomenon will lead to the shift of the centre of gravity of crude trade to Asia and India in particular. Crude oil will continue to serve the base load of the country in the next decade. A burgeoning middle class and increasing urban consumption creates high demand for petrochemicals. The present petrochemical consumption of India is about one third of global average. The self-sustaining refineries of the future would have to be well integrated with petrochemicals.

An integrated refinery with 25-30% petrochemical intensity would require an investment of two to three times that of a conventional refinery. MRPL can repurpose its existing assets for cost optimization in forward integration. The present petrochemical intensity of MRPL is 10%. While continuing to ensure relevance and viability of its existing assets, MRPL would be making calibrated investments in petrochemicals to embrace long term changes. This will shore up the revenues in the future during period of declining returns from fossil fuels.

There are emerging trends in Bio-fuels and Green Hydrogen. These are early times and their costs are high. However, the company cannot afford to ignore these developments. The transition to the future by the company will include efforts in clean energy, carbon footprint reduction, sustainable initiatives and effective deployment of capital resources.

8.2. Threats

The transportation sector is at the forefront of energy transition to renewables. Gasoline is forecasted to be impacted the most because of its use in light vehicles where much of the electrification is happening. About 50% of the products of MRPL are for the road transportation sector. This poses a challenge for the company. Lower demand means less need for refining to produce fossil fuels. There is a risk of contraction in profit margins when refinery capacity utilization falls.

In contrast, demand for petrochemical feedstocks will continue to grow. The major oil-derived petrochemical feedstocks are ethane, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), and naphtha. These are primarily used in the production of polymers for plastics, synthetic fibers, and other petrochemical intermediates. Demand for these products will continue to grow with rising wealth. MRPL must evolve to match shift in product mix to meet petrochemical demand. MRPL is well placed by virtue of its size and configuration that provides flexibility for petrochemical scale and integration. MRPL possesses advantages in terms of chemical oriented units such as Hydrocracking and Reforming. The Reforming pathway is already integrated with Aromatic production. The Hydrocracking units can be repurposed for maximizing cracker feedstock. The presence of refining and petrochemicals at a single location will enable exchange of streams at least cost to deliver optimum mix of fuels and petrochemicals.

Alternate energy forms like Green Hydrogen and Bio Fuels are emerging. A geographic market like India is expected to see a delayed transition due to strong underlying economic growth. Nevertheless, MRPL has initiated action for adoption of these alternatives at a small scale.

9. Strengths and Weaknesses

9.1. Strengths

The Refinery is capable of processing heavy and sour crudes to produce lighter and sweeter products. It has processed 95 different types of crudes. This versatility has allowed MRPL to overcome the risk of crude dependency on specific regions of the world in the event of geo-political threats. The company has evolved with time in response to market dynamics. The product portfolio is diversified and the company is focussed in manufacturing products using the shortest thermodynamic pathway. This energy efficiency centric approach of the company has contributed to its cost competiveness in the cyclical nature of business that a refinery finds itself in.

Digitization is crucial to the performance of the company. MRPL recognizes this and has implemented digital tools on 24*7 basis to optimize performance and speedily trouble shoot for reliable operations across its assets and supply chain. R&D efforts in this direction have strengthened MRPLs resolve.

From a fossil fuel based company, MRPL has transformed with a present petrochemical intensity of 10%. In the refining of crude oil, the key is to effectively convert the carbon molecule into a desired product. Since petrochemical integration remains capital-intensive and complex, it needs a strategy to enhance value at every step. Your company has the domain expertise for molecule management and valorization. Land is being acquired for the next phase of growth while water requirement is being secured through desalination. MRPL is exploring modern technologies for integration with its existing assets.

9.2. Weaknesses

Crude Oil Refining Industry has been important for the energy security of the country. The products of MRPL are oriented towards transportation fuels. Your company has undergone transformation in its configuration to provide stable product volumes to the consuming market while ensuring its ability to meet environment requirements. These have resulted in significant investments over time. The changing energy mix across the world to limit warming poses the challenge of disruption in stable returns over long term.

The weakness of refining as a standalone profit centre has to be addressed. Your company is rethinking refinery operations. It aims to be prepared for the long term with the development of profit centres around fuel marketing and petrochemical production. MRPL is dependent on Oil Marketing Companies for much of its domestic sales presently. There are plans by your company to have 1000 Retail Outlets of its own in 5 year For petrochemicals, MRPL will optimally time its investment to decouple from past and infuse capital in future. This will free it from the pressures of new situations and consequent risks of lower capacity utilization and margin reduction that can impact cash flow. The investment yardsticks would include repurposing existing units, addition of on-purpose units, green field petrochemical pathway and sustainable imperatives.

10. Risks

10.1. Crude Supply and Price Risk

Supply chain management is important to production efficiency. In crude procurement the two major supply chain risks are volatile costs and commodity availability. Crude procurement is integrated with refinery economic model and market demand to optimize margins. The feedstock for the refinery is selected based on a complex operating model, run monthly, to deliver maximum worth of product. Rolling plans and reviews are done on a monthly basis for market assessment, crude procurement, optimization of inventory holdings and business process evaluation on back cast mode.

MRPL enters into term contracts with National Oil Companies for security of supply to ensure it receives certain volume of crude oil every month as base load for its plant. The company goes out into the spot market for additional cargoes. The multi-pronged capacity configuration, high refinery complexity, multi berthing facilities and storage facilities have allowed short term planning covering spot purchases. Five new crudes were processed during the year and spot purchase of crude has increased to about 30%. This is aligned with the aim of diversification in crude sourcing and assessment of pecuniary opportunities in procurement. The current geo-political situation has increased volatility. MRPL has done well to address pain points in the current situation.

The Middle Eastern region remains the key crude supplier. The presence of MRPL on the west coast provides a short haul advantage in crude procurement which reduces the working cycle. This also permits optimum storage of crude quantity mitigating the risk of loss in inventory holdings due to price volatility.

Nevertheless, MRPL is aiming to balance the crude diet with non-middle eastern sources such as West Africa and Latin America.

10.2. Refinery Margin Risk

The crude cost and product prices are internationally determined and the refinery is exposed to this "crack spread". Economic performance is generally tied to the spread. MRPL disaggregates parts of the refining supply chain for efficiency improvement. They include crude procurement, crude inventory, refining margins, finished product inventory and marketing margins.

The term and spot purchases in crude are based on maximum economic value. The inventories of crude and products are optimally maintained to balance physical holdings with financial holdings. The performance efficiency of the refinery is achieved by maximizing capacity utilization. This spreads the fixed costs over longer crude runs generating increased income and profit. During the year, MRPL achieved the ever highest Crude Throughput of 17.1 MMT at the lowest ever specific energy consumption of 71.30 MBN. The efforts that are being made in reliability is ensuring avoidance of unplanned shutdowns on sales.

Cost competitiveness is important in a challenging market and is a key aspect of MRPLs operational strategy. Energy efficiency opportunities have been identified for implementation and these are expected to bring down the energy footprint of the company further. The company is expanding its marketing operations. Its polypropylene business has a near Pan India presence. There are plans on the anvil to achieve 1 million ton in fuel sales (MS and HSD) in the medium term through network expansion. Presence of petrochemicals in product portfolio is giving leverage for profit maximization.

A diversified product slate mitigates the risk of dependency on few products and also delivers margins. MRPL is also evaluating opportunities in valorization of molecules from existing refinery through small and medium size investments.

11. Human Resources

During the Financial Year 2022-23, your Company continued to enjoy cordial and harmonious relations with all the employees and as evidence to the same not a single man-hour was lost on account of any industrial disturbance.

Total employee strength was 2550 including 226 women employees, 332 SC/ST employees and 42 Physically Challenged employees. 1107 employees belong to Management cadre whereas 1443 employees belong to Non-Management cadre.

12. Internal Control Systems

Your Company has a well-established internal control mechanism which ensures effective internal control environment. Your Company is constantly improving and upgrading its system of internal control towards ensuring management effectiveness and efficiency, reliable reporting on operations and finances and securing high level legal compliance and risk management. Adequate systems of internal control commensurate with the Companys size and nature of its operations are in place. These have been designed to provide reasonable assurance with regard to recording and providing reliable financial and operational information, complying with applicable statutes, safeguarding assets from unauthorized use or losses, executing transactions with proper authorization and ensuring compliance of corporate policies.

The Internal Audit is supervised by the Audit Committee which continuously monitors the effectiveness of the internal control systems with an objective to provide to the Board of Directors, an independent, objective and reasonable assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the organizations risk management control and governance process. The Audit Committee reviews adequacy and effectiveness of the Companys internal control environment and monitors the implementation of audit recommendations and follow up actions.

Your company is also covered by regular compliance and performance audits by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (C&AG). C&AG has deputed a Resident auditor to the company. The company is also under the jurisdictional oversight of the Central Vigilance Commission and has a full-fledged Vigilance Department headed by a Chief Vigilance Officer.

13. Joint Ventures:

13.1 Shell MRPL Aviation Fuel Services Limited (SMAFSL)

The Company has Joint Venture viz. Shell MRPL Aviation Fuel Services Limited (SMAFSL) with Shell B.V. Netherlands wherein your Company holds 50% of share capital and the balance is held by Shell Gas BV, The Netherlands. The accounts of SMAFSL have been consolidated with MRPLs Accounts.

SMAFSL supplies aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to both domestic and international airlines at several Indian airports and acts as a contracting Company for Indian carriers International Aviation Fuel requirements. The total income for FY 2022-23 is RS. 1633.39 Cr as against RS. 673.19 Crores in FY 2021-22 with Pre-tax profit of RS. 100.93 Crore (Previous Year RS. 24.00 Crore) and post-tax profit of RS. 75.22 Crore (Previous Year RS. 17.9 Crore).

13.2 Mangalam Retail Services Limited (MRSL)

During 2017-18, the Company reduced its shareholding in Mangalam Retail Services Limited (MRSL) to 18.98% and accordingly MRSL presently is not an associate Company of MRPL. MRSL has not yet started commercial operations.

14. Conclusions

The physical performance of your company in FY 22-23 was the best ever. The achievement in FY 22-23 has been the result of foresight, focus and prudence in capital expenditure in energy efficiency improvement modifications, additional utility infrastructure (desalination plant), unit de bottlenecking (CCR-1), augmentation of marketing infrastructure (oil terminal and petcoke evacuation facility) besides regulation compliant project (BS-VI Project). The company has demonstrated its ability to deliver on demand. Record production numbers have been achieved during the year. Marketing expansion is gaining traction and in the medium term one expects a lot of heft in this area.

The company has grown organically over the year The asset quality of the refinery is superior. The investments of the past were timed to match growing fuel requirement. The drivers of crude price today are not only geo-political situation and emerging new economies but also the pace and scale of adoption of renewables. This is causing refineries to rethink investment decisions in core areas.

India is expected to remain a bright spot for fossil fuels into the next decade. This will enable MRPL to generate capital for the next phase of investment. Refineries cannot be reluctant to invest in infrastructure for the changing times. MRPL intends to be an integrated refinery of the future by capital deployment in new pathways. The company is looking at options to integrate with existing refinery for manufacture of petrochemical molecules. The expected gains would be from feed stock availability, lower capital cost, lower operating cost and the advantage of domestic market where significant growth is projected.

15. Forward Looking Statements

All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, but not limited to the Companys strategy for growth, product development, market position, expenditures and financial results, are forwardlooking statements. Since these are based on certain assumptions and expectations of future events, the Company cannot guarantee that these are accurate or will be realised. The Companys actual results, performance or achievements could thus differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no responsibility to publicly amend, modify or revise any such statements on the basis of subsequent developments, information or events. The Company disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.