HFCL Ltd’s shares hit a 52-week high on February 21 after the telecommunications company announced its plans to expand into Europe by setting up an optical fibre cable (OFC) manufacturing facility in Poland.

HFCL’s shares hit an intraday high of Rs 115.75, 4.42% higher than its previous closing price on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The stock closed 0.77% higher at Rs 111.70. 

According to the HFCL’s exchange filing, its board approved a strategic expansion plan to set up a state-of-the-art optical fibre cable manufacturing facility in Poland with an initial capital outlay of Rs 144 crore. 

The manufacturing unit will begin with a capacity of 3.25 million fibre km (fkm) and will be scalable up to 7 million fkm per annum. The investment will be made through debt and internal accruals. 

HFCL will incorporate a new wholly-owned step-down subsidiary under HFCL BV in the Netherlands for setting up this manufacturing facility to capitalise on the growing demand in European countries like Germany, Belgium, France and Poland, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The filing added that HFCL aims to bolster its export revenue share in the OFC business from 30% to 70% over the next four to five years.