INDIA – Parle Products, a leading biscuit maker based in Mumbai, has crossed $2 billion in annual revenues during FY22, becoming the first packaged food company in India to breach the markET Retail has reported.
The company which retails brands including Parle G, Monaco and Melody, posted a 9% increase in net sales at Rs 16,202 crore while profit slipped 81% to Rs 256 crore during the year ended March.
A year ago, the company had sales of Rs 14,923 crore and a profit of Rs 1,366 crore, according to the company’s filing to the Registrar of Companies.
Parle Products said its value for money plank especially for Parle G has been crucial in growing the brand consistently over the years, more so during inflationary times when consumers are cutting spends and opting for smaller packs.
“The growth was also driven by rural areas, which account for nearly 55-60% of the overall sales. We also expanded our distribution by 12% last year, which helped,” said Mayank Shah, senior category head at Parle Products.
In explaining the drop in profits, Shah noted that the company’s profit in the prior was abnormal as the company didn’t run any schemes or promotions in the trade and had curtailed advertising, factors which helped it save “significantly on variable costs during Covid.”
Parle Biscuits is also expanding the capacity of its sugar factory in Parsendi, Uttar Pradesh from 4,850 tccpd to 8,000 tccpd.
The expansion which is expected to create 20 additional jobs is being undertaken by Excell Engineering Equipments.
As per the information shared with Project Today approximately 75 percent of the work on the project has been completed and the expansion would be over by May 2023.
Back in October, Economic Times had reported that the Indian biscuit maker was in discussions to consider buying Poland-based peer Dr Gerard from private equity firm Bridgepoint.
Founded in 1993, Dr Gerard makes over 200 different biscuits and salty snacks and exports to more than 30 countries, according to its website.
Bridgepoint, which bought Dr Gerard from Groupe Poult of France in 2013, had appointed investment bank Houlihan Lokey to exit the business earlier this year before the Russia-Ukraine war slowed the sale process considerably, the report added.
Dr Gerard is valued at 10 billion to 12 billion rupees ($121.72 million to $146.07 million), the report said, with one of the people it cited saying it could be as high as 24 billion rupees.
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