PCBL recommends 40% dividend

Kolkata: The board of directors of RPG Enterprises group’s company Phillips Carbon Black Ltd (PCBL) has recommended a dividend of 40 per cent for the year ended March 31, 2008. Last year, the company had declared a dividend of 20 per cent.

According to Mr Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman of PCBL, the profit before tax in 2007-08 went up to Rs 112.78 crore from Rs 44.55 crore in 2006-07. Total income went up marginally from Rs 1,002.71 crore to Rs 1,039.31 crore even as the profit after tax stood at Rs 89.30 crore , up from Rs 23.53 crore .

Mr Goenka said the steep increase in raw material costs last fiscal was mitigated through improved operational efficiencies, better working capital management and lower finance costs. “We have saved Rs 140 crore in 2007-08 through operational efficiencies,” Mr Goenka said.

The company has already embarked upon greenfield and brownfield expansion projects in India and Vietnam.

A 90,000-tonnes per annum (tpa) capacity plant was being set up at Mundra (Gujarat) at an investment of Rs 220 crore.

A capacity of 50,000 tonnes was being added at Kochi at an investment of Rs 140 crore.

The investments required would be made by way of debt and internal accruals. When both the projects are commissioned, PCBL’s total carbon black manufacturing capacity in India will go up to 410,000 tpa. Production of power from co-generation power plants will go up from 32 MW at present to 80.5 MW.

Mr Goenka said PCBL was also setting up a 90,000-tpa capacity carbon black plant in Vietnam at an investment of $46 million.

The Vietnam plant was expected to be commissioned by the first half of 2010-11, he said.