With effect from August 1, 2015, the Himatsingka holding company in North America has been renamed as Himatsingka Holdings NA Inc. In addition, the two operating subsidiaries, Divatex Home Fashions Inc. and DWI Inc., have been merged and renamed Himatsingka America Inc. The merger will help consolidate the North American portfolio under one umbrella with approximately $300 million in gross revenues, 12 to 14 brands, a strong private label platform and a stable leadership team.
The group continues to strengthen its intellectual property platform in the home textile space. In this regard, its North American subsidiary Himatsingka America Inc. has signed a licence agreement with the world renowned Aeropostale brand. Under the agreement Himatsingka will design manufacture and distribute bedding and bath products using the Aeropostale label for departmental stores, big box retailers and wholesale channels across North America.
The group’s North American subsidiary Himatsingka America Inc. has also entered into an exclusive mutual licensing agreement with Applied DNA Sciences Inc to commercialize the world’s first DNA-verified cotton supply chain. This initiative will be brought to market under the “PimaCott”. The group sees potential opportunities as a result of this agreement.
As disclosed earlier, the Rs. 1,281-crore expansion plan entails investments in enhancing the group’s current sheeting capacity, backward integration into spinning and a foray into terry towels. The investments will be carried out in phases over the next three years. Of these investments, the group estimates to commission its enhanced sheeting capacity by June next.
The group remains extremely focused on margin expansion initiatives across its manufacturing and retail and distribution businesses. It continues to see stability across the various operating divisions.
