Balmer Lawrie to hive-off tea biz, eyes tourism
Diversified PSU Balmer Lawrie and Company today said it will hive-off its loss-making tea business and specialty container division as part of the company’s strategic plan.
The tea business had been making losses since its inception, though they have been coming down over the years, S K Mukherjee, MD of the company, said here.
The company is eyeing the tourism sector for growth and has chalked out plans to offer attractive packages to outbound traffic.
"We are also looking at acquisitions in this sector," he said.
Besides tourism, the company is also keen to foray into the leather chemicals business for inorganic growth.
The travels and ticketing business of the company has been the largest revenue earner among all the strategic business units of Balmer Lawrie, Mukherjee added.
The company hopes to clock revenues to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore and gross profit of Rs 200 crore by 201 he said.
During the first half of FY07, Balmer Lawrie posted net profit of Rs 37.13 crore on revenue of Rs 635 crore.
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