YEAR EVENTS 1900 - The Company was incorporated at Mumbai. The company has four operating enterprises viz, Empire Dyeing, Garlick Engineering, Vitrum Glass and Empire International. 1944 - 9000 Rights shares offered (Premium Rs. 50 per share; prop. 3:1) 18,000 bonus shares issued in prop. 2:1. 1954 - 30,000 bonus shares issued in prop 1:1. 1967 - Vitrum Glass enterprise was acquired by the company and is engaged in the manufacture of glass hollow-ware for pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food and beverage industries. - 60,000 bonus shares issued in prop 1:1. 1968 - Garlick Engineering division specialises in the manufacture of E.O.T. cranes (upto 100 tonnes capacity) as well as a new series of single girder cantilevered monobox cranes is in technical collaboration with J.H. Carruthers & Co. Ltd., of Great Britain. 1969 - 60,000 bonus shares issued in prop. 1:2. 1970 - 1,60,000 Right equity shares issued at par in prop. 8:9. 1972 - Garlick Engineering enterprise has agencies for machine tools and measuring instruments made by foreign and Indian manufacturers. The enterprise was acquired on 1st January. - 1,10,000 shares issued to members of Garlick & Co. Pvt. Ltd., on its merges. 1973 - Empire International enterprise was started in January as a merchant export house. The main items were textiles, processed foods, live stock and engineering goods. 1975 - The name of the company was changed from "The Empire Dyeing and Manufacturing Co. Ltd.," to the present one on 1st July. - On 2nd Janury, 4,50,000 Bonus Equity shares in the prop. 1:1. 1979 - 2,66,666 shares issued (prem. of Rs. 5 per share) on conversion of debentures. 1981 - 2,91,667 rights shares issued at par in prop. 1:4. 1983 - 2,91,667 rights shares issued at par in prop. 1:5 in July. 1984 - In September, 2,50,000 rights shares issued in prop. 1:7. 1985 - The Empire Dyeing speciality fabrics unit suffered a setback on account of rise in input costs and emergence of small power processors and hand processors. Government's encouragement to polyester cotton blended fabrics helped the unit to remain in business. The unit proposed to enter into areas of industrial fabrics and worsted suitings. - In October, 6,66,666 rights shares issued at par in prop. 1:3. 1986 - Empire Instrumentation division secured the exclusive representation of Spacelabs, U.S.A., manufacturers of cardiology instruments. 1987 - The operations at Empire Dyeing speciality fabrics division were drastically reduced to prevent further drain on the profits of the company. - The Vitrum Glass plant remained closed for 2 months for modernisation and relining of its furnace carried out with the technology from its collaborators Owens Illinois Glass Containers Inc., U.S.A. - With a view to diversification, the company secured agencies from MDA Scientific Inc., U.S.A., for toxic gas monitoring instruments and from Benthos Inc., General Oceanics Inc., and Interocean Systems Inc., U.S.A., for Oceanography Instruments. - 9,99,999 rights equity shares issued at par in prop. 1:4. 1988 - On 27th June, the company issued and allotted 1,00,000-14% secured redeemable non-convertible debentures of Rs. 100 each on private placement basis to Army Group Insurance Directorate, New Delhi. These debentures were to be redeemed at a premium of 5% at the end of the 7th year from the date of allotment of debentures. - 10,00,000 rights equity shares issued in prop. 1:5 on 28th February. 1989 - With a view to improving profitability, the division's machinery and equipment were upgraded incorporating the latest technology. - The Empire Chemicals division was established. Initially, it was proposed to concentrate on commodity and speciality plastic materials, bulk drugs and pharmaceutical intermediates and speciality industrial chemicals. The divison entered into marketing arrangements with some well known overseas suppliers and obtained the first overseas orders. 1990 - The operations were further affected by the continued lock-out in the Ankleshwar factory from 20th November. - The Company entered into a technical collaboration agreement with Novell GmbH, West Germany for the manufacture of Steel Mill duty cranes. - Empire Machine Tools division had a set-back due to foreign exchange crisis. - Empire Chemicals division obtained several agency representations from overseas suppliers of various countries such as U.S.A., Holland, etc. 1991 - Negotiations were on for finding alternative productive employment for the remaining labour force and premises. - Labour problems escalated resulting in a lock-out at the Ambernath works. The lock-out at Ankleshwar and Ambernath adversely affected the working results. - Empire Instrumentation units' ambitious growth plans suffered a setback due to reasons such as import compression, devaluation, low fund availability and recessionary trends in the economy. - The sales and earnings were affected by the stringent import curbs imposed by the RBI. However, all efforts were made to widen the product base by finalising arrangements with several internationally known manufacturing and trading companies viz., Buckman Laboratories U.S.A., Kenko Commerce & Co., Japan, Dolder A.G., Switzerland, etc. 1992 - Empire Dyeing division continued to be stranded for lack of remunerative business in fabric processing, the plant being located in the heart of the city of Mumbai. - Working suffered indirectly because of the reduced development expenditure by the Government of India. - Empire Chemicals division entered into new working arrangement with fresh overseas suppliers. - The company took the opportunity to capitalise on Warehousing by creating vacant area through re-organisation of its offices and plant lay-outs. This activity was expected to bring in substantial resources to the company. 1994 - Garlick Engineering division declared a voluntary retirement scheme for its workers as there seemed no possibility of revival. The lock out position continued and some of the workers resigned under the voluntary retirement scheme. - One six section bottle forming machine was also replaced by an imported eight sections machine, which would lead to a 10% increase in production. - Machine tools with sophisticated technologies were developed and carry forward orders to the tune. - A number of new principals were under development and a marketing tie-up was concluded with one of the world's largest multinationals in the field of speciality chemicals viz. Rohm & Hass Company, USA. The division made all efforts to broad base its product portfolio. - Empire Products Ltd. ceased to the subsidiary of this company w.e.f. 31st March, Empire Securities Ltd. are the subsidiaries of the company. 1995 - Lock out position continued and there was no immediate possibility of revival. - The addition of two section coupled with technological upgradation resulted in an increase in the production capacity from 10 lakhs to 11 lakhs bottles per day. - The Empire Machine Tools division developed parallel lines comprising of high-tech, high value as also low valued items so that it could cater to different segments of industries. - Empire Chemicals division recorded a revenue growth of 18% contributed mainly by Speciality Industrial Chemicals. - A new Empire Metals division was formed which made forays in indenting and international trade of Iron and Steel products. The division developed expertise to handle bulk iron and steel products like hot and cold rolled coils/sheets/structurals, wirerods of carbon, Alloy, constructional steels etc. 2004 - The Board has Recommended to the shareholders the payment of dividend of Re 1 (Tax free 10%) per Equity Shares of Rs 10 each. 2005 - The Board has recommended to the shareholder the payment of dividend of Rs 2 (Tax free 20%) per Equity Shares of Rs 10 each. 2006 - The Board has recommended to the shareholders the payment of Dividend of Rs 4/- (Tax Free 40%) per Equity Shares of Rs 10/- each. 2007 - The Board has recommended to the shareholders the payment of Dividend of Rs 6/- (Tax free 60%) per Equity Shares of Rs 10/- each. 2008 - The Board has recommended to the shareholders the payment of Dividend of Rs 8/- (Tax Free 80%) per Equity Shares of Rs 10/- each. 2009 -The Board recommended to the shareholders the payment of Dividend of Rs 10/- (Tax free 100%) per Equity Shares of Rs 10/- each. 2010 - The Board recommended to the shareholders the payment of Dividend of Rs. 20/- (Tax free 200%) per Equity Shares of Rs. 10/- each. 2011 - The Board recommended to the shareholders the payment of Dividend of Rs. 22 (Tax free 220%) per Equity Shares of Rs. 10 each. 2012 - Mr. Subodh Chandra has been appointed as an additional Director of the Company. - TheBoard recommended to the shareholders the payment of Dividend, of Rs. 24 (Tax free 240%) per Equity Shares of Rs. 10 each. 2013 -Empire Industries Ltd has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has recommended Dividend of Rs. 24 (Tax free 240%) per Equity Shares of Rs. 10 each. 2014 -Empire Industries Ltd has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has recommended Dividend of Rs. 24 (Tax free, 240%) per Equity Shares of Rs. 10 each. -Empire Industries Ltd has informed that Mrs. Uma Ranjit Malhotra has been appointed as an additional Director of the Company with effect from May 29, 2014.