Kurlon looks to up growth through furniture

Kurlon Ltd, a Bangalore-based mattresses firm is foraying into the Rs 13,000 crore home, kitchen and off-ice furniture segment. The company as part of its diversification strategy has set up a 60:40 joint venture with a family-owned little known Italian firm - Cesare, to manufacture Italian designed sofas in India. Kurlon is looking to enter kitchen and office segment during next year.

The company has set up a manufacturing plant at an investment of around Rs 12 crore near Bangalore with an installed capacity of 120,000 sofa sets per annum. The pro-duct range will be first introduced in India and will be exported back to Italy later this year. Kurlon claimed that it is looking at sales of Rs 240 crore in two years time by being present at modern ret-ail outlets in addition to its showrooms.

The company, which reported a growth of 15 per cent in its turnover at Rs 385 crore in 2008-09, is looking at a growth of 30 per cent in 2009-10 with these diversifications.

Kurlon is embarking on a multi-pronged strategy to expand its market. The company, which currently sells through a network of 5,000 retail shops, aims to double the network size in the next two to three years.

It plans to tie up with shops in Tier-III and Tier-IV cities and towns. Secondly, it aims to launch mattresses for as low as Rs 600 and as high as Rs 169,000.