Five power players to watch out

B&B Triplewall Containers: Making big in cardboards  

At the peak of Covid, B&B Triplewall Containers developed beds manufactured out of 100% recycled paper. Easy to assemble, the beds could manage a load of 300-kg of weight. It was godsend for home quarantine, isolation centres and hospitals. In addition, the group adheres to three types of green practices. There is a closed-loop steam which condensates the recovery system and saves about three million litres of water per year plus fuel (read: coal), saving fuel. Then there is a starch kitchen which uses the machine wash water that comes off the glue tray back for making fresh glue. And finally, there is recycling of waste.

When WhatPackaging? visited the plant, B&B Triplewall Containers was one of the biggest cardboard manufacturers in the country, producing boxes and boards. At that time, the group boasted of two manufacturing facilities. The Bengaluru factory is a three-acre plot with built-up area of 90,000-sqft plus installed capacity of 2000 MT, while the Hosur factory is housed on an eight-acre plot with built-up area of 2,30,000-sqft and an installed capacity of 5,000 MT. Both the facilities have the capability to manufacture 1.25 crore boxes per month. Now, there is a third facility in Hyderabad with a capacity of 2,500 MT.

Manish Gupta, the chairman and managing director of the group has a vision to be “20 in 27”. This means to convert 20,000 metric tonnes of paper per month by 2027.

The stock was trading at Rs 275.00 when this report was filed.

EPL: Across geographies

EPL has received approval to incorporate a wholly-owned subsidiary in Brazil. The objective is to set up a greenfield project for the packaging tube business. Customer additions across geographies as well as greater cross-selling opportunities is the EPL mantra.

EPL is trading at Rs 168. Market capitalisation stands at Rs 5,840.45-crore. Thanks mainly to the leadership position in the oral care segment.

Formerly known as Essel Propack, EPL is the largest specialty packaging global company. The group manufactures more than eight billion laminated plastic tubes for the FMCG and pharma industries. The group is the world’s largest manufacturer of laminated plastic tubes, with units operating across countries, such as the US, Mexico, Colombia, Poland, Germany, Egypt, Russia, China, Philippines, and of course, India. There is a shift to laminated tubes from plastic/aluminum tubes.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 51.91%, while institutions and non-institutions held 29.02% and 19.07% respectively. EPL, with its new management under Blackstone, is eyeing “revenue contribution from personal care products.”

Mold-Tek Packaging: Brownfield expansion

Mold-Tek Packaging has raised Rs 103.6-crore through qualified institutions placement and allotted 14,00,000 equity shares to the eligible qualified institutional buyers at a price of Rs 740. Currently, the stock is trading at Rs 796.40.

In its briefing, Mold-Tek top management said it intends to deploy the net proceeds from the QIP issue for “ongoing and future capital expenditure requirements of the company, working capital requirements, debt repayment and corporate purposes."

Mold-Tek manufactures rigid plastic packaging containers through injection molding technology for paints, lubes, oils, food, FMCG and other sectors.

The year 2021 was a busy period for Mold-Tek. And earnings apart, the Hyderabad-headquartered company executed a brownfield expansion of 1250 MT each at Mysuru and Vizag, plus a 3000 MT Capex at its Satara plant. In October, Mold-
Tek inaugurated its 11th manufacturing plant at Unnao (Uttar Pradesh). This plant will cater to the plastic packaging containers requirement of Kansai Nerolac Paints plus other customers in north India.

In December, the group announced a plant in Telangana for producing injection blow-moulded and injection-moulded products for applications in food, FMCG, pharma, cosmetics, etc.

Polyplex Corp: Outreach of 75 countries
 

Polyplex Corp share price was Rs 2,575.60 as on 25 April 2022. Two interesting trends. Polyplex has given dividends worth more than Rs 1,000-crore to shareholders in the past 36 months. It was available at a share price of less than Rs 300 (and market cap of less than Rs 1,000-crore) in the pre-Covid era.

The company is one of India’s leading manufacturers and exporters — outreach of 75 countries — of BOPET film for packaging, electrical and other industrial applications. The product range includes plain film (untreated), plain film (treated), plain film (untreated and hazy) and metallised.

The EBITDA is solid. This is mainly due to BOPET demand. The prices of BOPET increased by 20% in the Q3. The company earns 56% of its revenue from the production of BOPET.

Shree Ajit Pulp and Paper: Consistent ROE, EPS 

Shree Ajit Pulp and Paper Limited (SAPL) has acquired NR Agarwal Industries. Both SAPL and NR Agarwal plants are located in Vapi (Gujarat). As per market reports, the current installed production capacity of SAPPL is 1.08 lakh MTPA. And it has received approval to expand it to 1.2 lakh MTPA.

The new unit from NR Agarwal will have a production capacity of 0.82 lakh MTPA. Due to this, the total capacity is expected to be more than two lakh MTPA.

Two interesting developments for readers of WhatPackaging? magazine: One, how a Rs 200-crore market cap company has been able to purchase a Rs 100-crore plant mostly from internal accruals, cash on B/S and some debt. Two, unlike the paper companies in India, SAPL’s ROE and EPS is pretty consistent.

Shree Ajit Pulp shares closed at Rs 350 on 25 April 2022 (BSE) when this report was filed.