ITC keen to buy Horlicks at 'right price'

Kolkata: ITC chairman Y Deveshwar and MD Sanjiv Puri on Friday made it clear that it is keen to acquire Horlicks from GSK's consumer nutrition business if the malted food drinks (MFD) brand is offered "at a right price". Horlicks is the largest MFD brand in India. However, it is reported that ITC is not interested in Complan, a MFD brand of Kraft-Heinz, that could be up for sale, according to reports.

At the company's annual general meeting (AGM), Deveshwar said ITC is interested in acquiring it at a high cost. Later, Puri quoted that bidding for Horlicks may be slotted for August.

However, an ITC source said that the company is likely to be a consumer of GSK, which includes brands like Maltova, Boost and Viva apart from Horlicks. "As GSK is selling the entire consumer business, then the source added. Horlicks is the flagship brand of GSK's consumer business with a revenue of over Rs 2,300 crore. Complet is a much smaller brand with Rs 700-800 crore in revenue.

In March this year, GSK said the company would conduct a strategic review of its consumer nutrition business. The bidding process for the $ 4-billion business would be handled by GSK's global headquarters in London. HUL, Nestle, Coca-Cola, along with Danone, were reportedly interested in GSK consumer nutrition brands.

Earlier, Deveshwar also pointed out that the city-based diversified conglomerate would certainly get into a health drink segment. "We can look for health drink. It can be protein supplement or protein-based milk drink. The company can develop it organically. For acquisition, we'll look for a fair valuation, "he added.

The FMCG-to-Tobacco-to-Hotel Major is restructuring its lifestyle retail business – which according to the ITC MD, has not been performing according to expectations.

Earlier, elaborating plans for various new FMCG segments, Puri said ITC is restructuring the lifestyle retailing business. As per sources, this business is now worth Rs 500 crore. It has 350 outlets across multiple channels and its major brands are: Wills Lifestyle and John Players. "The lifestyle retail has not performed as expected and has not been scaled up. We are looking at various options to restructure the business, "he added.

When asked about the business of retailing, Puri said that the company has not yet decided on any such option.

Commenting on the expansion of foods business, the ITC MD said that it is entering into Rs 2,000crore ready-to-cook frozen snacks segment under the ITC Master Chef brand. "We are introducing both veg and non-veg categories," he added. The other major players in this segment, which is growing at 15%, include Godrej Tyson Foods. "We have started with B2B in this segment but will enter retail now," he added.

Some of the food brands of ITC, like Sunfeast, Bingo, Aashirvaad have already crossed Rs 2,000crore mark. Aashirvaad is now at Rs 4,000crore brand while Sunfeast is Rs 3,500crore brand. Puri indicated that like last year when it would enter categories. The company has entered into the frozen food and floor cleaner already.

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ITC eyes hotels biz in Saarc nations

Kolkata: After Venturing Into a Foreign Market Through a Colombo Property, ITC may look for a hotel in South East Asia, West Asia and Saar region. "We can look for adjacent areas to India for hospitality if we go beyond India again," ITC MD Sanjiv Puri said.

According to him, ITC is now working on 'badet-right' strategy with a right mix of managed and owned properties. "Now, we have 60% owned and 40% managed properties. It would be 50:50 in next few years, "he added.