Eveready to enter home and kitchen appliances biz

After turning around its core battery business and cornering a significant chunk in the light-emitting diode (LED) market, Eveready Industries Managing Director Amritanshu Khaitan is set to diversify further and enter the home and kitchen appliances market.

Khaitan, a third-generation entrepreneur in the Brij Mohan Khaitan family, has initiated the process of reinventing the business with a range of new-age products including LED bulbs and portable chargers for mobile devices. He joined the firm in 2011 and in FY12, Eveready posted a net loss of Rs 80 crore on revenues of Rs 980 crore. However, the firm has turned profitable in the past two financial years. For the year ended March 2015, net profits jumped to Rs 49 crore from Rs 14 crore in the previous year. While LED will remain its focus in the coming years, the firm will be looking for further expansion of its portfolio.

"In the next one or two years, we want to enter the home and kitchen appliances business,” he said. "We would like to have a portfolio like what the Bajaj Electricals or Crompton Greaves.”

"From mixer, grinder to iron, toaster we are looking at all products in home and kitchen appliances category,” Khaitan noted. However, Eveready has no plans for white goods such as television, refrigerators, washing machines etc.
While battery remains its core business, the lighting segment continues to grow for Eveready. In the first quarter of 2015, the lighting business grew 70 per cent to Rs 67.5 crore while the core battery segment rose only three per cent at Rs 193 crore.

The company's focus on LED has led the growth in lighting segment as sales from LED products grew from Rs 50 lakh a year ago to Rs 22 crore in the first quarter of the financial year. Overall, Eveready's net profit rose 50 per to Rs 16 crore in the quarter.

Eveready was planning to set up an outsourcing facility in Hyderabad where LED bulbs would be manufactured through dedicated vendors. The facility is slated to begin production within the third quarter of the current financial year.

It recently announced its decision to seek approval of its shareholders to raise up to Rs 150 crore through qualified institutional placement. The company wants to use the fund to boost its long-term working capital, which would reduce its high-cost debt.