Phillips Carbon makes Vietnam foray
14-MAY-2008 Intellasia | Hindu
May 14, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
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Phillips Carbon Black Ltd (PCBL) on Monday announced its plans on making its first overseas foray through a joint venture unit in Vietnam, which it proposes to set up in partnership with the government-owned Vietnam National Chemical Company. PCBL, which is part of the R. P. Goenka group, informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it had signed an agreement with subsidiaries of the Vietnamese company for setting up a one lakh tonnes carbon black facility and a cogeneration plant of 16 MW capacity.
The Goenkas will hold 75% of the equity in the new project, it was learnt.
When contacted, company Chair, Sanjiv Goenka, told The Hindu that land acquisition had already commenced for the project and equipment ordering was also progressing. Financial closure for the Rs. 280-crore project was expected to be achieved by September.
PCBL, which is the biggest producer of carbon black, has three units. These are located in Kochi, Vadodara and Durgapur. Its current capacity of 2.7 lakh tonnes is slated to expand to four lakh tonnes by 2008 through brownfield expansions and a greenfield unit in Mundhra in Gujarat. The company, which caters to the tyre industry, has cogeneration power facilities with most of its units. PCBL, which is now the ninth biggest carbon black producer in the world, is aiming to occupy the number five position in three-years.
The company overcame a doubling of prices of its main raw material through increased operational efficiencies which brought in a Rs. 140 crore savings in 2007-08. The net profit, during the year increased to Rs. 89 crore from Rs. 23.50 crore in 2006-07. Based on this performance, dividend was doubled to 40%.
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