Consumer appliances to healthcare company TTK Group is firming up plans to acquire a slew of food-processing units as well as expand its appliances portfolio.
The group has also changed its plans to set up a shopping mall on its parcel of land in Bangalore and instead set up a residential project.
The TTK Group Chairman, Mr T. T. Jagannathan, told Business Line that the new product in the appliances category expected to be launched next month, will give the company business of about Rs 100 crore every year.
He said a new plant being set up at Roorkee in Uttarakhand at a cost of Rs 11 crore would manufacture the new product in the kitchen segment. The new plant, the seventh of TTK Prestige, would also make kitchen stoves, mixies and rice cookers.
TTK Prestige
Mr Jagannathan said with more customers shifting to branded kitchen products, TTK Prestige grew by almost 23 per cent in FY09 compared with the previous year. The company also recorded a 47 per cent growth in the first quarter of this year. He attributed the rise in sales to growth of the branded segment and improved efficiencies within the organisation.
The Rs 416-crore South-based company has also planned a capex of Rs 15 crore for this year, “about five times more than any other player in this segment,” Mr Jagannathan said.
He said the group company, TTK Healthcare, which already has a few products such as TTK Fryums snacks, wants to launch jams, sauces and ketchup products and would take the inorganic route to enter the segment. It plans to acquire a few food-processing units over the next 12 months before launching its new products.
TTK healthcare
TTK Healthcare has also developed a high-tech steriliser for under $1,000 and is awaiting clearance from the US Food and Drugs Administration. The company already has an export order for 10,000 pieces of the product and is hoping to get the approval soon. TTK is also betting on the growing implant market currently estimated to be about Rs 2,000 crore. It has sold about 85,000 units of heart valves and has kept the price of these valves low so that even the poor can have access to these products.
TTK Prestige has also rationalised its retail network, shutting down or relocating 50 Smart Kitchen stores and opening new outlets, taking the current number to 196.
No to delisting
On the issue of delisting of TTK Prestige, Mr Jagannathan said because of the tough norms for delisting, the company decided not to go ahead with the proposal.
Source: The Hindu Businessline