Phillips Carbon Black Limited – PCBL, With Rs. 48,500 crores of asset base and consolidated revenue of Rs. 26,400 crores, the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group is among India’s fastest growing conglomerates with a significant global presence. The Group companies have always embraced state-of-the-art and efficient technologies and have become leaders in the sectors that they operate in. The Group’s businesses comprise power, carbon black, IT-enabled services, consumer and retail, media and entertainment, sports, education and infrastructure and plantations.
In the case of PCBL Ltd, BSE sought clarification on news suggesting that the company was looking to raise funds from DBS Bank to part-finance its proposed acquisition of Aquapharm Chemicals.
ET reported that the Singapore-based bank committed Rs 210 crore and would be the anchor investor in PCBL’s Rs 700 crore proposed bond issue. The PCBL stock rose 7.12 per cent to hit a high of Rs 326.10 on BSE.
“The General Information Document dated 18 January 2024 read with the Key Information Document dated 18 January 2024 has been filed on the EBP Platform of the BSE Limited on 18 January 2024,” the company said.
“The disclosure document provides the information in relation to the anchor portion of the proposed issue of listed, rated, secured, redeemable non-convertible debentures aggregating INR 700 crore (“Proposed Issue”). As disclosed in the Disclosure Document, DBS Bank Ltd. is the anchor investor (“Anchor”) in relation to the Proposed Issue for 30% for the issue size (amounting to INR 700 crore), i.e., INR 210 crore,” PCBL clarified to BSE later.
Shares of PCBL (formerly Phillips Carbon Black), a prominent carbon black manufacturer, has delivered phenomenal returns to its shareholders with a steady rally over the past four years. Starting from a trading price of ₹31.35 per share in March 2020, the shares have surged to the current market price of ₹346, marking a remarkable growth of +700%. In comparison, the Nifty small cap 100 index has witnessed a gain of 158% during the same period.
Chairman Sanjiv Goenka’s bullish projections for the RPSG Group’s carbon black play – PCBL Limited – have inspired a 10 percent surge in the share price on July 30, extending Monday’s healthy gains.
The projections of over five-fold growth in the bottomline over five years is expected to take PCBL’s profit to the range of Rs 2,400-2,500 crore. The business margins are projected to go from current 14 percent to 17-18 percent as the share of specialty business rises, Sanjiv Goenka had told CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan in an exclusive conversation.
PCBL’s current market capitalisation is around Rs 12,500 crore.
“We will grow in the rubber black business, and importantly in speciality blacks where margins are higher”, Sanjiv Goenka had said, adding that he sees the bottomline multiplying in the next five years. “We see a 5x growth in profit over five years from this level”, he said.
Demand from Tyres Industry
“With the transition towards electric vehicles, it is expected that a fresh demand in the tyre segment will boost OEM tyre demand over the long-term”, PCBL said in its 2023 annual report. “The Indian carbon black market is poised for decent growth through 2028, primarily driven by growing automobile & tyre demand & specialty applications”, PCBL’s annual report added.
PCBL is an industry leader in carbon black with the maximum production capacity. “The Indian carbon black industry is highly concentrated, with a small number of players accounting for the majority of the production”, the company said, underscoring its moat and competitive advantage.
Recent Acquisition in Chemicals Business
The company had acquired Aquafarm Chemicals (ACPL) in November 2023, marking a foray into global speciality segments for water treatment chemicals and oil & gas chemicals. ACPL is a Pune-based globally top three leading specialty chemicals company, manufacturing and water treatment chemicals. The company has manufacturing facilities in India, the US, and Saudi Arabia. Overseas plants are being operated through subsidiaries.