Bitumen pays the bills, ships make the money

Summary: AICL's bitumen trading brings in most of its revenue but thin margins, while its shipping arm earns far higher margins on far less revenue. This piece breaks down the segment numbers, the vertically integrated structure behind them and what to watch as the HPCL order tests whether the model actually works.

Summary: AICL's bitumen trading brings in most of its revenue but thin margins, while its shipping arm earns far higher margins on far less revenue. This piece breaks down the segment numbers, the vertically integrated structure behind them and what to watch as the HPCL order tests whether the model actually works. In FY25, Agarwal Industrial Corporation (AICL) earned Rs 73 crore of profit on Rs 1,953 crore of bitumen sales, a margin of 3.7 per cent. Its shipping business earned Rs 83 crore on just Rs 333 crore of revenue the same year, a margin of nearly 25 per cent. That gap is why AICL rewards a closer look: it is less a bitumen trader than a shipping and storage business funding itself with bitumen. How a bitumen trader ended up owning ships Bitumen is a petroleum residue used to build and resurface roads, sold on price with little room to stand out. AICL took a different route, building control over each step between source and road: its own ships sailing from the Middle East, port terminals, plants for modified grades and tankers for last-mile delivery. By FY25, AICL’s overseas subsidiary owned 11 vessels with a combined capacity of about  1.14 lakh tonnes, and 60-70 per cent of the bitumen the group handled travelled on those ships rather than a third party’s. AICL reports