Tecpro says pact with US firm will boost turnover

With orders on hand worth more than Rs 4,370 crore, Tecpro Systems expected to achieve at least 40 per cent growth in the current financial year, over Rs 1,968 crore last year. However, that was before a significant development happened.

The company specialises in material-handling systems and is a major supplier of ‘balance of plant' equipment for power projects, such as coal-handling and ash-handling plants. Last week, Tecpro entered into an agreement with AC-Tek of the US for bringing into the country long-distance conveying systems — conveyors that can carry bulk material such as coal and iron ore over several kilometres.

The tie-up, and the consequent introduction of such equipment in the Indian market, will give Tecpro's current-year turnover a further boost, says Mr A.K. Bishnoi, Chairman and Managing Director of the company.

Speaking to Business Line on Saturday, Mr Bishnoi said the company expected to bag a couple of orders for the equipment in the current year, but did not disclose the value.

He observed that upcoming power plants would need them. Even a pithead power plant is some kilometres away from the coal mine. Today, coal is still conveyed over belts, but the AC-Tek equipment will change things.

Therefore, in 2011-12, the company's first financial year after it went public in September 2010, the topline might as well cross the Rs 3,000-crore mark — quite an achievement for a company that is less than a decade old.

In 2002, Mr Bishnoi chucked his job at Fenner India to join hands with Mr Amul Gabrani, who then ran a material-handling company, to set up Tecpro. That year, Tecpro achieved a turnover of Rs 11.6 crore.

The leap from Rs 11.6 crore to Rs 1,968 crore last year – 178 times in less than ten years – has happened because Tecpro offered more products during the upturn in the power sector.

In 2008, Tecpro took over Mahindra Ashtech from Mahindra & Mahindra, and, thus, got into ash-handling systems. Earlier this year, Tecpro bought out the German collaborator in a joint venture, Tecpro Trema Pvt Ltd. Trema gave Tecpro a foothold in the market for air-pollution control systems.

A couple of months back, Tecpro tied up with NTK of China for technology for producing waste-heat recovery systems, which are fast becoming a norm in the cement industry. The company has already won an order from Ultratech Cement worth Rs 224 crore.

The Rs 4,370-crore orders on hand will help turnover grow by 40 per cent this year, but that is without counting in the two new business lines — long-distance conveying systems and waste-heat recovery systems.

On the National Stock Exchange on Friday, when the AC-Tek deal was announced, Tecpro shares closed at Rs 263, which was Rs 11.85 (4.72 per cent) per cent higher than the previous close.

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