Britannia aims global presence, double turnover in 5 yrs

Bakery and dairy products major Britannia Industries Ltd, which is aiming to double its turnover in next four to five years, would expand offshore presence as it aspires to become a global company.
Britannia, which would primarily target the developing countries, is expecting that exports would contribute around 14-15 per cent of its turnover in next 4-5 years.
Besides this, the company would invest a capex of Rs 300-350 crore every year for the next 3-4 years to ramp up its capacity and roll out new categories which would be funded internally.
"In the next 5 years, I would see this going from eight per cent to 14-15 per cent," said Britannia Industries Managing Director Varun Berry.

Asked about the region which would lead growth, Berry said: "It would all be developing countries. We are not going to developed countries as it does not make sense."
Presently, export contributes eight per cent to the turnover of the company.

Part of the strategy would be expanding to countries which have similar business environment as India. It may also go for acquisitions if it gets the right candidate.
Britannia, which is currently limited to bakery and dairy segment, would venture into new categories to be a complete food company.
"Our first step would be the countries, which has environment similar to ours. The strategy would be to seed in our products in these countries, establish a little bit of space and then start to think of a manufacturing facility there. In the meantime, if some good opportunities (acquisitions) comes up in some countries, then we would look at that as well," Berry said.

He further added: "Today, we are not a food company. We are broadly a bakery company only which also does dairy. We truly want to be a food company as we go forward. Its our vision to make Britannia not just an Indian food company but a global food company. We want our footprint across the globe and made some move in that direction and a lot more would be coming in future."
"We would like to double the turnover in next 4-5 years...
Bulk of the growth would come from the current categories and all the new categories would add to the growth as well," said Berry.

He further added: "We are working on multiple categories. We are establishing our right to succeed and we are testing with consumers".
The company has capex plans to ramp up production capacity.
"I would think of Rs 300-350 crore every year in capex for next 3-4 years," said Berry adding, "If there is a return then we have got the money to fund it. The critical thing would be that the project should be giving us right returns and should be paying off in certain period of time. If it fulfils that, then money is sitting in the bank and we have enough money to invest."

As part of growth strategy, Britannia Industries would have a mix of in-house and contract manufacturing.
"Presently, it is 60:40 for in-house and contract manufacturing," he said adding, "It could be 70:30 in next two years".
Britannia is currently present in 70 countries across the globe but its manufacturing facilities are only in India and the Middle East.
The company is putting up a facility in the exports zone in Gujarat, which would be ready soon.
Britannia today inaugurated its Rs 200 crore R&D centre at Bengaluru, adjacent to its manufacturing facility in Bidadi.
The new facility would channelise the innovations from the R&D centre to markets across the country. Presently, it will employ 800 people, which could be later increased to 1,350 when it reaches full capacity.