KARACHI, Oct 19 (Focus Pakistan) — Lucky Cement expansion plans span three major investments: a 1.6 million-tonne cement capacity increase in the Democratic Republic of Congo, additional solar power generation in Karachi and a partnership with China's GAC Group to bring Chinese vehicles to Pakistan. An investor presentation reviewed by Focus Pakistan outlines the group’s next phase of investment.
Lucky Cement expansion: Congo moves to the centre
The biggest single project sits in Central Africa. Lucky plans to expand its fully integrated cement plant in the DRC by 1.6 million tonnes a year, and it expects work to finish within 18 months of construction starting.
Lucky’s presentation still targets construction in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, a period that ended on Sept 30. The company does not say whether work has begun, which leaves the project’s actual timetable unclear.
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Africa already dominates Lucky’s export book. The continent took 78 percent of its foreign shipments in fiscal 2026, up from 61 percent a year earlier. Afghanistan, once a reliable buyer, fell to 2 percent from 8 percent. Total exports slipped 8.2 percent to 3.1 million tonnes, and Lucky’s export business has become increasingly concentrated in Africa.
Management says it will chase only profitable sales, at home and abroad, while the Congo expansion lifts capacity.
Cheaper kilns, cleaner power
Back home, Lucky has been cutting its fuel bill. It rolled out new technology across four production lines during the year. The company says the upgrade reduced coal use and optimised clinker output.
The solar build-out continues. Lucky is adding 15 megawatts at its Karachi plant, which will take installed solar capacity to 89.3 MW.
Its standalone gross margin rose to about 37.5 percent from 34.3 percent over the year. The deck does not break down how much of that gain came from the efficiency work.
Power plant switches to Thar
Lucky Electric Power Company faces a tougher road. The deck flags rapid solar adoption, transmission bottlenecks and falling grid demand as pressures across Pakistan’s power sector. In response, the plant is moving to 100 percent Thar coal and better rail logistics to sharpen its costs.
There is a twist here. Lucky Cement keeps adding solar panels to cut its own energy bills, while the deck lists the country’s wider shift to solar among the industry-wide pressures on power producers. The presentation does not put a number on what that shift means for Lucky Electric itself.
Cars, phones and pharma
Lucky Motor Corporation holds an exclusive deal with GAC Group to market and distribute GAC vehicles in Pakistan. Management sees the partnership as its route into new energy vehicles, alongside fresh Kia models and more local manufacturing. Competition, it concedes, keeps rising.
The group also assembles Samsung phones and plans to focus on affordable devices. Its chemicals and pharma arm, Lucky Core Industries, expects a hard year of weak demand and high energy, tax and financing costs.
The balance sheet behind the expansion
Lucky heads into this spending cycle with lower liabilities. Consolidated liabilities fell to Rs320 billion from Rs341.2 billion, and equity climbed to Rs473.9 billion from Rs388 billion. Finance costs dropped 26 percent to Rs18.9 billion, according to coverage of its audited August results.
Profits give it room too. Group net profit rose 14 percent to Rs96.5 billion in the year to June 30, and standalone profit jumped 41 percent to Rs46.6 billion.
What could go wrong
Management expects domestic cement demand to strengthen in fiscal 2027 on government infrastructure spending, housing incentives and cheaper financing. It also admits that lasting growth depends on a broader economic recovery.
Energy prices remain the risk the deck names most often. For a company betting on kilns in Congo and solar panels in Karachi, that risk cuts both ways.
