POCL Enterprises Ltd has said that it would relocate a plant from Maraimalai Nagar, near Chennai to Puducherry and use the space thus freed-up for putting up additional capacities for lead smelting and refining – each 11,000 tonnes a year.

The company informed the stock exchanges today that the capacity expansion “will enable us to meet growing demand, handle larger contracts and generate additional revenue of ₹200 crore a year”. 

The Chennai-headquartered company is a recycler of non-ferrous metals, such as lead and zinc. In 2023-24, it achieved a turnover of ₹874.36 crore, net profit of ₹12.89 crore, with earnings per share (EPS) of ₹23.12. In the quarter ended September, its turnover and net profit were ₹339.13 crore and ₹3.31 crore, respectively, and EPS ₹5.58.

“With the new rotary furnaces, pollution control equipment and the substantial capacity enhancement, we expect a 2 per cent increase in margins due to higher production efficiency and economies of scale,” the company said in a notification to the stock exchanges. It said that the project would “involve an overall investment outlay of ₹5.22 crore (approximately). We expect the commercial production to begin from Q1 of FY 2024-25”.

On the BSE on Tuesday, the shares of POCL Enterprises closed at ₹329.95, which was ₹19.95 (6.44 per cent) higher than the previous close. 

While rating the company’s credit-worthiness in July 2023, the rating agency, CARE, noted that “the prospect of the industry is estimated to attain benefit from the growing scrap metal recycling market and the rising demand for lead-acid batteries for energy storage. The rolling out of Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022, by the Government of India is also expected to aid growth in the battery recycling industry”. 

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