Lucky: leading by example

As a leader in terms of market share, Lucky Cement (PSX: LUCK) embodies how a sustainable business and market leader should operate. The company closed the fiscal year with a bottom-line growth of 6 percent despite seeing a fall in its gross margin from 48 percent to 47 percent in FY17.

Costs have been higher this time around likely due to higher input costs—international coal prices have rebounded up by nearly 30 percent in the past few months—which contributed to the fall in gross margin, but much of that blow may have been cushioned by the 10MW Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) plant that went online at the Pezu plant. The company did not compensate by increasing the prices as sales per unit dropped by 2 percent in FY17.

The company also managed to cut down on its indirect expenses—which stood at 10 percent as a share of sales in FY17, against 11 percent in FY16 which is why net margin grew from 29 percent to 30 percent in FY17.

The company may not be the only one on an expansion path but is bringing significant addition into the industry—with a Brownfield plant in Karachi and a Greenfield plant in Punjab. The former which has a capacity of 1.25 million tons is expected to come online by December 2017, while the company is seeking approval for its Punjab plant that will have a capacity of 2.3 million tons.

Lucky also have three different investments that are hoped to make the group stronger than ever—one is an investment in a car assembly plant in partnership with South Korean Kia. The project has already been granted permission and it is the company’s target to start plant construction by 1HF18. The group has also invested in a cement grinding unit in Iraq of nearly 1 million tons expected to come online by Nov 2017. Moreover, the company’s 660MW coal power plant—despite hitting some snags—is expected to start production by end of 2020.

There is lot going on for Lucky. It has been diversifying its strong portfolio—dipping its toe in many different sectors—and making smart investing decisions (re: ICI, auto and energy sectors) but more importantly, it sets a growth precedence in the industry that other cement players, and businesses no less should be following.