CenturyPly on Thursday said it is on track to invest Rs 2,000 crore as capital expenditure by 2024-25, including greenfield capacity expansion in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Punjab.
The company has earmarked an investment of Rs 600 crore plus for a medium density fibre unit and Rs 200 crore plus in laminates at Andhra Pradesh, Rs 500 crore plus in particle boards in Tamil Nadu and Rs 100 crore plus in Hosiarpur, Punjab in setting up new capacity.
“Over the course of three years (2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25), we will do a capex of Rs 2,000 crore... The bulk of our investment happening now is in MDF and particle board. These are growth areas for us as a company,” said Keshav Bhajanka, executive director, Century Plyboards. He was speaking on the sidelines of the announcement of a new product by the company in the laminates segment.
The company expects a double-digit growth rate in plywoods and laminates and a 25 per cent plus compounded annual growth in MDF and particle boards in the next few years.
“Particle board and MDF over the course of the next 5 years has the potential to beat 40 per cent of the total turnover of the company,” saidBhajanka. The segment contributes around 20-25 per cent of the company’s business but additional greenfield capacity in this category will result in the segment’s contribution to increase.
The company last year had also emerged as a successful bidder to modernise and mechanise a cluster of berths in Calcutta’s KhidderporeDock. This will give a boost to the operations of the container freight services business and the company will be in a position to get a better valuation to explore a potential strategic sale or divestment in future.
