The Rs. 2,500-crore Himatsingka Group, a vertically integrated home textile major with a global footprint, has lined up exciting expansion plans. The group has over 12 brands globally, including marquee brands like Calvin Klein Home, Barbara Barry, Esprit, Bellora and Atmosphere. It also has a strong foothold in the private label space and is planning fresh initiatives to augment its Brand and Private Label portfolios.
An investment of Rs. 1,281 crores has been approved the expansion of its manufacturing facilities at Hassan in Karnataka. The investments entail an increase in its current sheeting capacity, backward integration into spinning and a foray into terry towels. The investments are to be carried out in phases over the next three years.
The group is doubling its existing sheeting capacity from 23 million metres per annum to 46 million meters per annum. The company will be installing for the first time 211,000 spindles as part of its backward integration into spinning. The group’s entry into the terry towels segment will see it setting up a capacity for 25,000 tons per annum. Expansion is progressing as scheduled, with the group estimating to commission its enhanced sheeting capacity by June 2016.
The group has reported consolidated revenues of Rs. 1,436.03 crore for the first nine months of financial year 2016-17. While its manufacturing revenues represented by its drapery/upholstery and bedding divisions grew by 7.4 per cent to Rs. 777.01 crores, revenues from the global retail and distribution business across North America, Europe and Asia was Rs. 1,287.39 crores.
The group’s Drapery and Upholstery division at Doddaballapur in Bangalore has changed its status from an EOU to a DTA with effect from November 5, 2015. The Bedding Division at Hassan was converted from a SEZ into a DTA with effect from November 20, 2015. The land contiguous with the said unit has also been converted from an SEZ to a DTA with effect from January 27, 2016. With these changes, the company expects its manufacturing divisions to get the benefit of ease of operation as well as beneficial incentive structure, typical to this industry.
Going into details of the group’s performance, its Executive Director, Mr. Shrikant Himatsingka, said: “We remain focused on sweating assets across the group in order to drive operating performance”.
Commenting on the expansion plans, he stated: “These growth initiatives are synergistic with our current nature and scale of operations and they will help consolidate the group’s position in the global home textile space”.
The group expects to see a better operating performance by its manufacturing and distribution divisions, which would be further aided by the new sheeting capacities that are expected to be on stream in FY17, he added.