Date:13/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/13/stories/2007051302251300.htm

Business

Eveready plans to enter new product segments

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: Having taken a hard knock on its bottomline in 2006-07, owing to rise in input prices and sagging sales, Eveready Industries India Ltd. (EIIL), is planning to enter new product segments that will reduce its dependence on batteries. Company Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Deepak Khaitan, told reporters here on Friday that in three years, 50 per cent of EIIL's turnover would come from non-battery business which now, along with flashlights, accounted for 90 per cent of the sales turnover. EIIL ended 2006-07 with net sales of Rs. 772.5 crore (Rs. 732 crore in 2005-06), but closed the year with Rs. 13.80 crore net loss against a net profit of Rs. 22.60 crore. The net profit in 2005-06 was boosted by `other income' of Rs. 73 crore through the Guindy property deal. Although Mr. Khaitan was unwilling to divulge details of the future roadmap, he said education and utilising the company's existing assets were the areas which were being looked at.