Tata Beverages to acquire Dhunseri Tea
Tata Global Beverages Limited (TGBL) has signed an agreement to acquire the popular brands of Dhunseri. The company's board also announced a 250 per cent dividend.
The company entered a non-binding agreement to acquire the branded tea business of Dhunseri Tea & Industries Limited for approximately Rs. 101 crore. Dhunseri Tea's brands Lal Ghoda and Kala Ghoda have a market share of more than 6 in Rajasthan's tea market. The proposed acquisition is subject to due-diligence, stakeholder and regulatory approvals.
The company's board has recommended a final dividend of Rs. 2.50 per equity share for FY19. The company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) is scheduled for June 11, 2019, and the dividend subject to approval will be paid on or after June 13, 2019.
On the results front, for the March quarter, the company's consolidated revenue from operations increased by 5.2 per cent to Rs. 1,775 crore in Q4FY19 as against Rs. 1,688 crore in Q4FY18. Profit before tax (PBT) was at Rs. 153 crore as against Rs. 128, up by 19.6 per cent, on account of higher sales, lower cost of commodity in the international markets and better performance of non-branded business. However, the company's Profit after tax (PAT) was at Rs. 94 crore in Q4FY19, down by 18.1 per cent, as against Rs. 115 crore in Q4FY18, on account of higher tax expenses.
For the full year FY19, the company's revenue from operations increased by 6 per cent to Rs. 7,252 crore in FY19 as against Rs. 6,815 crore in FY18. However, the group's net profit for the full year dipped by 17.8 per cent to Rs. 457 crore as against Rs. 557 crore in FY18. The decrease in net profit was due mainly to higher exceptional items, higher share of losses from JVs and associates and larger one-time tax credits in the year ago.
On Wednesday's morning session, the stock of Tata Global was trading very volatile. The intraday high was Rs. 211 per share and intraday low was down more than 4 per cent at Rs. 200.50 per share. At 12:40 hours, the stock of Tata Global was quoting Rs. 207.95 per share, down by Rs. 1.60 or 0.76 per cent on the BSE.