Sheela Foam eyes 50% growth

Sheela Foam Limited, a company owned by the Ghaziabad- based Sheela Group, known for its Sleepwell brand of mattresses, pillows and seat cushions, is aiming at nearly 50 per cent growth in its Orissa business during the current fiscal.

In 2007, Sheela Foam clocked sales worth Rs 7.5 crore in Orissa and this year the sales figure in the state is expected to reach Rs 10.5 crore.

"We have planned to achieve the target with our presence in under represented areas and also through aggressive campaign of the company’s products in the state", Ajay Prakash, head of sales (South) told Business Standard here at an annual dealers' meet.

Sheela Foam has three distributors and 120 dealers in Orissa and the company enjoys the top slot in terms of market share in western Orissa, he claimed.

The company would soon launch a new mattress product called Vega in the Orissa market very soon, he added.

Vega is an attractive and quilted mattress and it comes at an initial cost of Rs 2,100 per mattress with a size of 4 inches.

Meanwhile, the company will start production of car-fittings from its new plant in Gurgaon, the plant set up as a joint venture between Sheela Foam and Canadian company Woodbridge.

The company has bagged an order from automobile giant Toyota to supply 50,000 car-fittings for the latest model of Toyota.

Sheela Foam is also planning another joint venture plant with Woodbridge in Chennai, the auto manufacturing hub of the country, at an investment of Rs 1,000 crore.

However, the company is now awaiting the allotment of about 32 acres of land from the Tamil Nadu government, Prakash informed.

At present, the company with a turnover of Rs 525 crore, has 11 plants in different locations of the country.

Sheela Foam has also forayed into the overseas market through acquisition of Joyce Foams, an Australian company, whose market share was 35 per cent in that country.

Presently, Sheela Foam owns five units in Australia.