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Jayanta Mallick

KOLKATA, June 26

THE Phillips Carbon Black Ltd (PCBL) stock has been making impressive gains in the recent trading sessions on the major bourses. The stock moved up to close on Wednesday at the level of Rs 25 from a level of Rs 10 early this month on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange.

On June 4, the scrip had closed at Rs 10.45 on BSE with a volume of just 600 shares. On June 19, it finished at Rs 18.15 with 18,117 shares changing hand on the BSE.

On Wednesday, it closed at Rs 24.30 on the BSE and at Rs 25.20 on the NSE. Interestingly, on both the exchanges it touched a 52-week high of Rs 26.15 (BSE) and oft Rs 27.15 (NSE). However, it closed at lower levels. The combined volumes of the counter on the two exchanges stood at over 1.1 lakh shares.

"The sales figures in the automobile and tyre industry are showing increasing growth in the recent months. That should leave room for a new valuation for PCBL stock, which is supposed to be the leader in carbon black — an important ingredient for tyres," a market analyst said.

For the year ended September 30, 2001, PCBL, an RPG group company, registered 20.44-per cent growth in sales to Rs 489.83 crore from Rs 406.03 crore of the previous year. However, profit after tax dropped by 35.52 per cent to Rs 4.32 crore from Rs 6.70 crore. According to PCBL sources, for the current financial year, the company is expecting to touch the Rs 500-crore turnover mark.

"The market perception about the group is not positive. The proposed merger one of its three subsidiaries — Transmission Holdings Ltd — into it did not go down well with the investors. The outlook for the scrip may not steadfastly remain strong until concrete figures for better performance are revealed for the current fiscal," an NSE dealer observed.

For the year ended April 30, 2001, Transmission Holdings recorded a profit of Rs 3.79 lakh, but its accumulated losses stood at Rs 39.07 lakh.

Other subsidiary — South Asia Electricity — for the year ended March 31, 2001, registered a loss of Rs 6.12 crore and its accumulated losses are Rs 22.15 crore. During the same period, PCBL Industrial Finance's loss was Rs 75.10 lakh and its accumulated loss Rs 54.49 crore.

The market's growth perception of PCBL is somewhat clouded by its failure to implement its announced plan to set up units in China and Sri Lanka. In July last year, the Kochi unit of Phillips Carbon Black had to be closed down due to problems relating to pollution. The plant was now reportedly operating at less than 50 per cent capacity, an industry watcher pointed out.

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