Kolkata: UK’s Camellia Plc, which enjoys a 74% stake in tea major Goodricke Group, is teeing off banking and financial services operations in the country for the first time through its London-based wholly owned subsidiary Duncan Lawrie Ltd.
The group, which got the green signal from the Reserve Bank of India for launching the financial services business, opened its first representative office in Kolkata on Tuesday.
With core interests in tea, the UK group has lined up plans to increase its tea production in the country through the acquisition route.
It proposes to raise production from 33 million kg to 50 million kg through acquisitions of tea estates in Assam.
PJ Field, chairman, Goodricke Group, said on the sidelines of the company’s annual general meeting, “Through the representative office, high networth individuals (HNIs) could invest in stocks that are listed in UK and the whole of European region. We will also help them to invest in stocks listed in the US and Far East to some extent.”
Field, who is also the MD of Camellia’s banking and financial services and heads Duncan Lawrie, said, “We want to test the Indian market before we expand our footprint in the country.”
Duncan Lawrie is a private bank that provides service to individuals, companies, charities and trusts. It offers services such as investment management, financial planning, offshore services and trust and estate planning.
On the tea business in India, A N Singh, MD & CEO of Goodricke Group, said, “The group’s total production is 33 million kg as of now. We are interested to acquire tea estates in Assam and will acquire estates at the right time and opportunity. The aim is to achieve 50 million kg in the shortest possible time.”
Meanwhile Goodricke has decided to increase its presence in instant tea and packet tea categories.
According to the CEO, the company has set a target to increase its packet teas from 6 million kg at present to 10 million kg by 2012.
Source: DNA
Goodricke owner enters financial services business
Posted by darj at 9:10 AM Labels: goodricke, goodricke group
Goodricke sees 2010 tea output at 21 mln kg-exec
Posted by darj at 9:09 AM Labels: goodricke, goodricke groupKOLKATA, April 13 (Reuters) - Tea plantation firm Goodricke Group (GDRC.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) expects to produce 21 million kg of tea during 2010, compared with 19.5 million kg in 2009, a senior official said on Tuesday.
"The climate is better this year compared to last year, so we should touch 21 million kg this year. Our export target for the current year is at 2 million kg as against 1.8 million kg last year," Chief Executive Officer A.N. Singh told reporters.
The Kolkata-based company, which owns 17 tea gardens across tea growing regions of Darjeeling, Dooars and Assam, is planning to scale up its instant-tea and packet tea business in big way in the present year, he said.
"We have exported 200 tonnes of instant tea during 2009 and this year it is expected to touch 300 tonnes. We are working on launching it across India in a big way by the end of this year," Singh said.
Currently, the company has an installed capacity to produce 600 tonnes of instant tea per annum, he added.
Goodricke sold 6 million kg of packet tea last year and the figure is expected to touch 10 million kg over the next two years, he said.
Goodricke expects the tea prices to trade at 10-15 rupees per kilogram higher during 2010 on rising consumption and demand-supply mismatch, Singh said.
"Currently, the tea prices are trading in the range of 135-150 rupees per kilogram, which is 10-15 rupees higher compared to same period last year. This trend is expected to continue in the remaining part of the season," he said.
Due to adverse weather conditions, India's total production in 2009 stood at 979 million kg, compared with 981 million kg a year ago, according to Tea Board data.
This, coupled with global crop shortage, pushed tea prices up 30 percent on an average during 2009. (Reporting by Niladri Bhattacharya; Editing by Prem Udayabhanu)
Source: Reuters India
The Goodricke Group Limited is expecting tea prices to increase by five per cent this year, on the back of the global shortage and strong internal demand.
A N Singh, managing director and CEO, GGL said, prices should increase by five per cent. "There is a drought in Kenya and Sri Lanka, coupled with a strong internal demand, prices should appreciate," he said. Singh was speaking on the sidelines of the company's annual general meeting.
Last year, GGL clocked in an average price of Rs 228.51 per kg for its Darjeeling teas compared to the auction average of Rs 175.36 per kg. Goodricke Dooars sold at Rs 99.70 per kg against the auction average of Rs 91.9 per kg while the company's Assam teas averaged at Rs 120.27 per kg against auction price of Rs 104.59 per kg.
Singh clarified that the five per cent appreciation was the expectation for teas in general and specific to Goodricke's teas. Total manufactured crop for the company was at 21.52 million kg for the year ended December 31, 2008, compared to 21.17 million kg in the previous year. This is the highest manufactured crop of the company.
P A Legatta, chairman, said, although the crop marginally declined the increase had been achieved from outsourced leaf.
Tea plantation company Goodricke Group Ltd is gearing up to launch ready-to-drink cold beverage product by December this year, a top official said here Tuesday.
'Over 250 million bottles of our ready-to-drink variety will be available in three flavours - peach, lemon and orange,' company managing director A.N. Singh told reporters on the sidelines of the annual general meeting.
Goodricke, whose gardens are spread over Darjeeling and Dooars in West Bengal, and Assam, would use the Goodricke brand owned by the UK-based parent company Camellia Plc as an umbrella brand for the ready-to-drink segment till the exact name is finalised.
Country's largest tea company Tata Tea had last month announced its foray into the tea and fruit-based cold beverage market with the launch of T!ON brand.
Talking about Goodricke's tea business, Singh said the company has plans to reduce sale of tea from its Darjeeling gardens through the auction route and shift more quantity to the retail market.
'By reducing the share of sale through auction from the present 70 percent to 50 percent within the next three years, we would be saving on costs incurred in putting the tea to auction,' Singh said.
In a bid to increase retail sale, the company has recently opened a tea lounge and has entered into distribution tie-ups with shopping malls, he added.
The share of packet tea sales, which currently stands at 5 percent of 21.52 million kg tea manufactured in 2008, would be doubled to 10 percent in three years, Singh said.
The profit after tax of the company for 2008 was Rs.l7.58 crore, up from Rs.7.74 crore in 2007.
The Goodricke Group Limited has decided to conduct workshops on tea cultivation for small growers of Jalpaiguri district.
The group that has 27 gardens across the country, 12 of them being in the Dooars, has decided to hold such trainings to ensure that the tealeaves supplied by the small growers to the company are of high quality.
Vivekananda Mondal, who is associated with Goodricke, said the first workshop would be held in the group’s Denguajhar Tea Estate, located on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri town, on November 29.
At the workshop, growers would be taught scientific methods of pruning of tealeaves, use of manure and fertilisers.
“We will have officials from the tea board and experts of the group to speak at the workshop which, we feel, will be attended by 100-150 growers,” said Mondal.
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