Goodricke banks on acquired brands for pan-India presence

Aims to double market share; to widen reach in U.P., Bihar, J&K, Maharashtra

Show me the money: Godfrey Philips had decided to exit the packet tea business which contributed only 3% to its revenue.

Goodricke Group Ltd. is planning to double its market share in the packaged tea segment, riding piggyback on its acquisition of the packet tea brands of Godfrey Philips Ltd.

“Right now, we have a large share of the market in Madhya Pradesh and a significant presence in West Bengal, Punjab and Haryana. We will leverage the acquired brands to strengthen our reach in Bihar, U.P., Jammu & Kashmir and in Maharashtra,” said A.N. Singh, MD and CEO, Goodricke.

Goodricke has acquired the packet tea brands owned by Godfrey Philips a company engaged in cigarettes, tobacco, tea and other retail products. GPL, which was incorporated in 1988, had recently sold its packet tea business to Goodricke in a ₹20-crore deal.

Godfrey Philips had decided to exit the packet tea business which contributed only 3% to its revenue. In the quarter ended September 30, 2017 the company made a loss in its tea and other retail products business.

Mr. Singh said that Goodricke was aiming to double its market share to 4% within a year of operationalising the deal, which became effective November 1. Goodricke has begun retailing the acquired brands, sourcing the teas from its own gardens as well as through auctions.

8-mn kg production

Goodricke produces 8 million kg of tea annually at its gardens in Assam, Dooars and in Darjeeling, some of which are decades old.

Its presence in the packet tea market is mainly through some premium Darjeeling tea brands, green tea and CTC tea brands. It also sells through auctions and private deals. It plans to leverage the strong brand recall of the Godfrey Philips brands in the western and northern Indian markets where the brand has a strong presence especially in modern retail.