PCBL announces more details of new plant after strong quarterly profit

Sanjiv Goenka Group's Phillips Carbon Black Ltd (PCBL) will freeze the location of its proposed Rs 600-crore Greenfield project in south India by March, an official said on Wednesday. The company has been discussing with Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for setting up the plant which will have a capacity of 1,50,000 tonne per annum.

"We still have to freeze the location of the Greenfield plant in south India. We have not taken a final call yet. Discussions are on with various state governments in southern India. We will freeze the location by March," said Group's Chairman Sanjiv Goenka.

The company on Wednesday reported a 92 per cent increase in its net profit to Rs 108.58 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2018, from Rs 56.59 crore in the corresponding period previous year. It also posted a revenue of Rs 949.99 crore in the December quarter, up 54 per cent from Rs 618.56 crore in the year-ago period.

Speaking on the performance in the quarter, he said the improvement in net profit was on account of a shift in product mix to more value-added premium grades and improved efficiency in all function. Goenka said the additional 56,000-tonne capacity at Mundra in Gujarat has been commissioned and capacity expansion of 30,000 tonnes at Palej in the western state is expected to be completed by third quarter of FY20 (2019-20). He said the company is focussing on value-added and speciality products.

"As we go ahead, 15 per cent of our total capacity will move towards value-added and speciality black in about two years from the present (proportion of) about 7-8 per cent," he said. The company has set up an R&D centre at Palej, Goenka said. "We will have an R&D centre internationally and by July-September, we will finalise the country where it will be set up," he added.

(With inputs from agencies.)