Modern Food eyes 25% revenue growth in FY17

Everstone-backed Modern Food Enterprises Pvt Ltd is looking at 25 per cent increase in revenue in this financial year from previous year's, which is around Rs 270 crore. The company, on Friday announced the relaunch of Modern brand with plans to focus on health and wellness products. They further added that it is looking to achieve Rs 1,000 crore by FY21.

Launching the new brand positioning, packaging and enhanced portfolio of products almost 13-months after Private Equity major Everstone acquired the company. "Overall, we are looking at a 25 per cent increase in revenue by FY18, and at a goal to grow revenue four fold by FY221 to Rs 1,000 crore," said Aseem Soni, chief executive officer and board member of Modern Food.

The company's focus would be on health and wellness segment and value added products. It would also look at expanding its product porfolio into various packaged foods. Products such as biscuits, noodles and others are in its radar at present. The company would also look at collaborating or acquiring good quality local brands as part of expansion.

The brand revamp, after Everstone took over the business, includes new brand positioning, brand identity, new contemporary packaging, apart from enhanced portfolio of value added products, said Rajeev Shukla, managing director, Everstone Capital Asia Pte Ltd. It has also entered into ready to cook Chappathi and Paratha sales and has sold 16 million in Kerala and Tamil Nadu in eight months.

When it reaches Rs 1,000 revenue, the bread products would be 60-65 per cent of the total business while the rest would be of non-bread products. Company is also seeing a growth in value added products. Shukla refused to reveal details of the funding from Everstone to Modern Food and the investment into the expansion plans.

The company has strong presence in South, while it has to strengthen presence in West and North of the country, he added. The number of retail outlets would expand to over a lakh by FY18 from the current 80,000 outlets at present. It has also set up an R&D centre in Tamil Nadu to bring out innovative products in the segment. The bread industry is around Rs 6,500 crore and is fragmented with small level local players while Modern Foods and Britannia are among the few national players in the segment.