*Prakash Industries moving ahead with 'power' - Interviewed of Mr. Vipul Agarwal, Director, Prakash Industries by InfralineEnergy*
[] *Mr. Vipul Agarwal, Director, Prakash Industries* Delhi-based Prakash Industries Ltd., a part of Surya Roshni Group, has plans to go into merchant power selling business. For the same, this leading steel maker in the country will be generating power. It will generate 675MW by 2014. In this context, *Infraline*Energy has interviewed Mr. Vipul Agarwal, Director of Prakash Industries. *Q: Please tell us something about the company* A: Prakash Industries is a growing steel manufacturer with the net profit of Rs 360 core for FY2009-10 as against Rs 304 crore in the previous year. Currently, we manufacture structural steel comprising of Beams, Channels, Angels; billets; sponge iron; wire rod; etc. The company also deals in power generation and already has a 100 MW captive power plant. But most of the products are used captively to produce the finished product. *Q: What are your plans for power generation?* A: The company is currently focusing on its plan of 675 MW generation. Out of which, 625MW will be coal based power and the rest will be coal-waste based power. The generation of 625MW will be done in five phases, which include 125MW, 100MW, 100MW, 150MW and 150MW respectively. Each phase will take 8-10 months each to complete. From the first phase, 80-90 per cent of power will be used for captive purposes. From the generation in second phase onwards, the company will have surplus to sell in market. *Q: How are you planning to sell approximately 500 MW of power, which you will be generating from second phase onwards? * A: It will be done on Merchant power selling. That means, as against long-term agreement (PPA), power selling will be done on short-term basis. As the power prices in the merchant market generally reflect a positive trend, we will enter into agreements with the companies, who will be interested in purchasing power at that time and on those rates. The list of companies and agreement details will be available sometime around August 2011. *Q: After the completion of this project, do you have any other plans in the power sector?* A: After this, we will be setting up plants to generate around 1,320 MW each in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. For the same, we have set up two SPVs and signed MoUs with the State Governments. *Q: Considering your plans for merchant power business and already revenue-generating steel business, what growth do you expect in near future? * A: We aim to double our margins over next three years. *Q: How will that happen?* A: Integration has been our key to growth right from the beginning. Currently, we have 60-70 percent of integrated operations and are planning to have full integration. That means, the company is currently involved in selling only the finished products and uses all the intermediaries of steel. It mainly includes, sponge iron and billets. Moving towards full integration, Prakash Industries will start operation of iron ore mine from Q4 FY10. So, with integration and MPP, we aim to triple our EBITDA in next three years, which is equivalent to 51 percent CAGR over three years. Till now, we have seen 18 percent growth in EBIDTA over last financial year. That means we have moved from Rs 304 crore profits to Rs 360 crore. Continuing this trend, we aim to increase the EBIDTA to approximately Rs 1,050 crore in FY12 from approximately Rs 300 crore in FY09 *Q: What is your investment in this regard?* A: Company is currently investing Rs 800 crore in its integration and rationalization exercises. This will increase the utilization levels of finished steel capacity to around 90 percent as against present 65 percent. In rationalization, we will be running the plant at its maximum capacity. Due to certain cost-related constraints, we are not running all our plants at their maximum capacity. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en.
