Industrias Electro Quimicas S.A.

What it is

Located near the seaport zone of Lima, IEQSA is the largest industrial complex dedicated to zinc transformation in Peru, and all of South America. Its products include zinc alloys, rolled zinc plates, sheets and coils, calots for zinc-carbon batteries, strips for electrochemical uses, anodes for electroplating, and zinc oxide.

Founded in 1963 and sitting on Peru’s Pacific coast, IEQSA exports a broad range of zinc products to five continents. It draws on easy access to the Andes’ zinc and natural gas supplies — Peru is the world’s second-largest zinc miner, giving IEQSA a natural feedstock advantage over rivals in higher-cost countries.

Who owns it

In August 2023, Belgian materials group Umicore sold its 40% stake in IEQSA to Zochem, a U.S. company. Umicore had first invested in IEQSA back in 2003, holding that stake for two decades.

Zochem ULC is a subsidiary of Zinc Acquisition Holdings, with operations in Dickson, Tennessee and Brampton, Ontario. The identity and exact share of the remaining 60% of the capital is not disclosed in available sources; the stock’s micro-cap market value (US$3.7M) against revenues of over US$115M underscores how tightly held and thinly traded the shares are.

Who runs it

Raúl Musso is CEO (Gerente General) of IEQSA, and has been publicly identified as the company’s chief executive in exchange filings and press releases around the 2023 Zochem transaction. A long-serving finance and administration manager has held that role continuously since 1994 and joined the board as a director in March 2022.

The chair of the board and the CFO title are not separately disclosed in available public filings.

The money, in plain words

IEQSA earns just under 2.4 cents of profit from every dollar of sales — a net profit margin of 2.36% in FY 2025 (up from 1.77% the year before) — on revenues of US$115.7M, a fall of 3.6% from the prior year’s US$120.0M. For a commodity metal processor this margin is characteristic: the raw material (zinc) is the dominant cost, leaving little room between buying and selling price.

The business’s stock market value — roughly US$3.7M (our calculation: PEN 12.6 (US$4)M ÷ 3.4) — is strikingly small against annual sales of US$115.7M, implying a price-to-sales ratio of about 0.03× (our calculation). The market cap stood at PEN 12.62 (US$4)M as of early March 2026, having shrunk 35.8% in the prior year.

The implied price-to-earnings of ~1.4× (our calculation) is very low by any standard, reflecting the stock’s thin trading and the controlling shareholders’ near-complete hold on the float.

What it is doing now

With the 2023 acquisition, Zochem gained its first foothold in Peru and Latin America, and both companies plan to develop zinc products for emerging green uses — including emergency backup batteries and energy storage. An estimated 150,000 metric tons of zinc are expected to be consumed in energy-storage batteries by 2030, according to the International Zinc Association, a market IEQSA and Zochem are positioning to serve jointly.

Both companies continue operating independently under their existing names; Zochem brings recognised expertise in French Process zinc-oxide manufacturing using low-CO₂ muffle furnaces. For IEQSA, the partnership adds a North American distribution network and zinc-oxide technology at a moment when battery-materials demand is accelerating.

What to watch

• Zinc price cycles: with raw material as the dominant cost and margins below 2.5%, a sustained dip in zinc prices squeezes profit fast; the reverse is also true.
• Green battery materialisation: the joint pipeline with Zochem on battery-grade zinc is real but unproven at scale; watch for any announced capacity or offtake agreement.
• Ownership disclosure: the 60% of capital not held by Zochem has never been publicly identified in filings accessible to date; any shareholder disclosure from the BVL or SMV would be material.
• Free-float liquidity: with a US$3.7M market cap and the stock trading at fractions of a sol, price moves can be sharp on minimal volume — a risk for any minority investor.
• Revenue trend: sales have fallen from a peak of US$163.9M in FY 2022 to US$115.7M in FY 2025 (our calculation: –29% over three years); a stabilisation or reversal is the next signal to watch.

This is news, not investment advice.