Phillips Carbon Black Ltd's Q2 profit gallops by 112.62%

Kolkata: Phillips Carbon Black Limited's (PCBL) revenue for the second quarter of the current fiscal came in at Rs 880.3 crore, an increase of 47 per cent year-on-year. The operating profit (including hedging costs and foreign exchange fluctuations) for this quarter came at Rs 175.3 crore, marking a rise of 85 per cent year-on-year.

The EBITDA margin expanded significantly by 415 bps year on year to 19.9 per cent in the second quarter. The net profit after tax (PAT) for the quarter stood at Rs 108 crore, marking a rise of 113 per cent year-on-year.

The revenue, EBITDA, and net profit all beat the consensus estimates of Rs 803 crore, Rs 160 crore, and Rs 91 crore by 10 per cent, 10 per cent, and 19 per cent respectively.

Phillips Carbon Black reported its highest ever quarterly profit before tax (PBT) and profit after tax (PAT) in the second quarter. The gross profit margin of the company expanded by 88 bps year on year to 37.3 per cent during the quarter.

This is due to a shift in the product mix to more value-added premium grades. The EBITDA margin's expansion by 415 bps was led by high operating leverage and cost efficiencies across functions.

Employee benefit expenses also increased significantly by 24.9 per cent year-on-year to Rs 34.7 crore in the second quarter. Overall, the effective tax rate of the company increased to 29.3 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal against 28.2 per cent in the first half of the previous fiscal.

The capacity expansion of 50,000 tonnes at Mundra, Gujarat, made steady progress during the period and is expected to be completed by the end of the financial year. Also, the capacity expansion of 30,000 tonnes at Palej, Gujarat, is expected to be completed by the end of fiscal 2019-20.

The company's 1,50,000 tonne-per-annum capacity greenfield project in south India involves an estimated investment of Rs 600 crore. The company's combined short and long-term debt stood at Rs 657 crore as on September 30, 2018, against Rs 687 cr as

on March 31, 2018.