Five years ago, Lloyds Metals & Energy’s revenue was ₹251 crores. Fast forward to today, the company closed FY26 with revenue of ₹13,681 crores and a net profit of ₹3,194 crores.
That translates to a staggering 122% revenue CAGR over the last five years. A kind of growth trajectory rarely seen outside sectors like technology or defence. What makes the numbers even more remarkable is that Lloyds operates in one of the most cyclical industries in the economy: iron ore and steel.
The market has taken note of the stock. Lloyds Metals’ stock was trading at around ₹55 per share five years back and has reached a peak of ₹1,889 this year – a 34-bagger, making it one of the biggest wealth creators during this period.
Lloyds Metals Stock Price Chart
For a company in this sector, such explosive growth would normally suggest a commodity supercycle. But there wasn’t one. Iron ore prices experienced significant volatility over the period, yet Lloyds’ earnings grew much faster than what commodity price movements alone would suggest. So, what really worked for Lloyds Metals & Energy, and will the momentum sustain? Let’s explore.
Growth and cost optimisation story
Lloyds Metals is primarily an iron ore mining company. In 2007, the company won the rights to mine the Surjagarh iron ore reserve in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. The timeline is important here.
At the time, India allocated mining leases through a nomination-based system. That changed in 2015, when amendments to the MMDR Act introduced mandatory auctions for most new mineral blocks. Since then, companies acquiring important mineral blocks, including iron ore, have often had to pay substantial auction premiums in addition to royalties and other statutory levies.
Lloyds sits on the other side because Surjagarh was allocated years before the auction regime came into force. The lease is valid until 2057, which is a big part of why experts estimate Lloyds to be one of the lowest-cost iron ore producers in the world.
Following environmental approvals, iron ore production increased from roughly 10 million tonnes (MMT) to 22 MMT in FY26. Management is guiding for 26 MMT in FY27. For a mining business, that kind of volume expansion alone can significantly change earnings. The company has approval to increase mining to 55 MMT.
Moving Down the value chain
Lloyds is steadily moving up the value chain. It runs India’s largest merchant pellet plant, with capacity scaling from 4 million tonnes toward 12 million tonnes by FY28-29. The iron ore it mines is no longer sold entirely as a raw commodity. A growing proportion is processed into pellets, a higher-value product used by steelmakers as feedstock.
It built an 85-kilometre slurry pipeline from its mine to its processing plant for smoother evacuation of iron ore. This reduced the logistics cost by an estimated ₹600 per tonne and also removed a key bottleneck that limited how much ore could be moved from the mine. Earlier, it depended on road transportation.
It is also building a 1.2 million tonne wire rod mill and steel manufacturing facility. Production is expected to start this fiscal year. The aim is to scale the total steel capacity to 4 million tonnes in the next few years. For this, the company is building a second, 190-kilometre pipeline to feed a planned pellet and steel hub at Ghugus. This pipeline will reduce logistic costs by more than ₹500 a tonne.
In short, Lloyds benefited from a rare combination of volume expansion, value addition, and cost optimisation. Mining output increased sharply, pellet production boosted realizations, and the slurry pipeline reduced freight costs while removing a key operational bottleneck. Together, these factors explain why sales and profits soared even without a meaningful rise in iron ore prices.
The Hidden Optionality In BHQ
The most important part of the Lloyds story may not be the ore it is already mining. It may be the ore that historically had little economic value.
Surjagarh contains around 700 million tonnes of Banded Hematite Quartzite (BHQ), a low-grade ore containing roughly 30-38% iron. Traditionally, BHQ has been difficult to monetize because of the cost structure of refining it.
A pilot project of 5 tonnes per hour, run in partnership with China’s Sinosteel, has consistently delivered yields in the range of 38-40%. The company is now planning a large-scale beneficiation facility capable of processing 45 million tonnes of BHQ annually.
This will effectively extend the mine’s productive life and unlock reserves that were previously stranded.
Can Lloyds Become A Steel Company?
The company is following a straightforward strategy. Instead of selling raw iron ore, it is moving further down the value chain that captures more value from the same tonne of iron ore.
Ore becomes pellets, pellets become steel, and steel becomes finished products.
Alongside this, Lloyds has acquired a controlling stake in Thriveni’s mine development and operations business, creating a fee-based revenue stream that is less dependent on commodity prices. It has also begun investing in copper assets in the Democratic Republic of Congo, although these remain relatively small relative to the core iron ore business.
The management is trying to build something broader than a mining company.
How the Financials Look
Lloyds Metals has delivered extraordinary growth over the last five years. Revenue increased from ₹251 crore in FY21 to ₹13,681 crore in FY26, while net profit rose to ₹3,194 crore.
Lloyds Metals Financial Trends ( in ₹ crores)
| Mar 2021 | Mar 2022 | Mar 2023 | Mar 2024 | Mar 2025 | Mar 2026 | |
| Sales Revenue | 251 | 692 | 3,353 | 6,525 | 6,721 | 13,681 |
| Operating Margin (%) | 4% | 21% | 24% | 27% | 29% | 33% |
| Net Profit | 0 | 97 | -289 | 1,243 | 1,451 | 3,194 |
| EPS | 0.01 | 2.64 | -5.72 | 24.6 | 27.73 | 56.76 |
| ROCE (%) | 6% | 34% | 81% | 79% | 38% | 36% |
Operating margins expanded from 4% to 33%, reflecting improved efficiency and value addition. Despite operating in a capital-intensive industry, the company continues to generate strong returns, with ROCE standing at 36% in FY26.
Growth Stock Or Commodity Stock?
This is where the debate becomes interesting. Mining companies are usually valued as cyclical businesses. Their fortunes rise and fall with commodity prices. Growth companies are valued differently. Investors focus on expanding earnings, increasing returns on capital, and long-term reinvestment opportunities.
The valuation table shows a different picture.
PE Trend of Mining and Steel Companies
| Mining Companies | ||||
| Name | P/E | 5Y Median PE | Ind PE | PEG |
| Lloyds Metals | 31.2 | 32.2 | 19.5 | 0.6 |
| NMDC | 10.4 | 9.0 | 0.6 | |
| G M D C | 34.7 | 13.1 | -1.6 | |
| Gravita India | 33.6 | 27.4 | 1.5 | |
| Ashapura Minech. | 16.7 | 14.8 | 0.3 | |
| MOIL | 22.4 | 19.2 | 6.5 | |
| Steel Companies | ||||
| JSW Steel | 34.6 | 33.5 | 18.6 | 1.0 |
| Tata Steel | 22.0 | 28.5 | 2.3 | |
| Jindal Steel | 28.8 | 17.0 | 37.9 | |
| S A I L | 19.4 | 14.8 | 0.8 | |
| Jindal Stain. | 17.7 | 15.7 | 1.2 | |
If Lloyds is viewed as an iron ore miner, the stock looks expensive. It trades at a P/E of around 31x, nearly three times NMDC’s multiple and well above major listed mining companies.
However, Lloyds is no longer just a mining company. It is expanding into pellets, steel, and beneficiation, allowing it to capture more value from every tonne of ore it produces. When compared with steel companies such as JSW Steel and Jindal Steel, the valuation looks much more reasonable.
But compared to all mining and steel companies, Lloyds is growing at a much faster rate. Revenue and profits have compounded at triple-digit rates over the last five years, yet the stock trades close to its own historical valuation multiple. In other words, earnings have grown quickly, but valuation hasn’t expanded much.
It seems the market is caught between two views. One sees Lloyds as a cyclical business because a major part of the revenue is still coming from mining operations. The other sees it as an emerging mining-to-metals platform with multiple growth drivers.
Which view proves correct will depend on the company’s ability to execute its next phase of growth. If it succeeds, the market may value Lloyds as a growth business rather than a commodity stock.
One Thing To Watch In The Shareholding Pattern
The shareholding pattern provides an interesting clue to how the market views Lloyds.
Promoters continue to hold around 63-64% of the company, indicating confidence in the business. However, a portion of promoter shares remains pledged. It has declined from 14% in December 2025 to 5% by the end of March 2026. Although declining, it remains an important metric to monitor as the company enters a capex-heavy phase.
Institutional ownership also remains surprisingly low for a company of Lloyds’ size and growth. Combined, FIIs and DIIs own less than 4% of the company. This suggests the stock is yet to see broad institutional participation despite its strong operating performance. One catalyst could be inclusion in major indices, which typically attracts passive institutional flows.
For now, the ownership structure suggests that much of the stock’s story is still being driven by promoters and retail investors rather than large institutions.
The Risks And The Big Question
The growth story is compelling, but it is not without risks.
A large part of Lloyds’ next phase depends on execution. The company is simultaneously building steel capacity, expanding pellets, developing a large-scale BHQ beneficiation project, and integrating its mining and MDO (Mine Developer and Operator) business. Delays in any of these projects could push back the earnings growth investors are expecting.
There are also operational and regulatory risks. A major part of the company’s growth phase is dependent on Surjagarh mining operation, which means any disruption to mining activity or the regulatory framework governing legacy mining leases could affect the company’s economics.
The company has proven its capability to execute large-scale projects. Now, the key question is whether it can replicate that success in steelmaking and beneficiation.
Disclaimer:
Note: We have relied on data from www.Screener.in throughout this article. Only in cases where the data was not available, have we used an alternate, but widely used and accepted source of information.
The purpose of this article is only to share interesting charts, data points and thought-provoking opinions. It is NOT a recommendation. If you wish to consider an investment, you are strongly advised to consult your advisor. This article is strictly for educative purposes only.
Deepan Datta has spent over a decade studying stocks and mutual funds. His passion is to uncover interesting stories in the financial markets and share them through his writings with investors at large. He is focused on delivering clear, easy to understand and research-backed insights. Deepan began his career as a Research Associate at S&P Global, where he developed a strong foundation in financial research and data analysis.
Disclosure: The writer and his dependents do not hold the stocks discussed in this article.
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