Feature

Are food processing companies at an inflection point?

The extension of PLIS to food processing has cast the spotlight on companies operating in the sector. Here is a list of players who could be among the beneficiaries  

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Published 3 years ago on Jun 04, 2021 5 minutes Read
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ADF Foods

The company manufactures food products under brands such as Ashoka, Soul, Truly Indian, Nate’s, PJ’s Organics, Aeroplane and Camel for the Indian market and 52 other countries, with the Middle East being a prominent market. The exporter is planning to increase production and distribution through a leased facility in Gujarat. It has also announced plans to increase capacity by around 9,800 tonne from the existing 28,000 tonne by incurring capex of Rs 600 million. The steady increase in capacity could keep its growth trajectory intact in the coming years.

DFM Foods

When most people in India were busy munching roasted corn, DFM Foods imagined it in a new avatar as Crax Corn Rings. Today, the company has a multiproduct presence and under the Crax and Natkhat brand, manufactures and distributes a variety of popular snacks targeted at children and young adults. It currently has two manufacturing plants in Ghaziabad and Greater Noida. Sales has grown at CAGR of 11.92% over the past five years and for 9MFY21, the company has registered sales of Rs 3.91 billion and net profit of Rs 278 million, respectively.

Godrej Agrovet

Hard to believe, but a group that sells Mysore Pak and flavoured curd is also the number one cattle-feed producer in India. That is agri-business conglomerate Godrej Agrovet for you. It is present in segments such as crop protection, oil palm, animal feed, dairy, poultry and processed foods. It took a hit in the latest quarter due to the second COVID-19 wave, and lower demand from the HORECA and out-of-home consumption segment. It saw an 8.5% decline in total income in FY21 but profit before tax saw year-on-year growth of 59.7%.

Hatsun Agro

The company sells milk, curd, ice creams, dairy whitener, skimmed milk powder, ghee, paneer, and even has an export network in 38 countries. In FY21, it expanded its geographical reach with a dairy plant in Maharashtra’s Solapur. The company saw a significant jump in the latest quarter as profit more than doubled to Rs 2.46 billion against Rs 1.12 billion the previous year. It is also set to establish two dairy plants – in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha – and its board recently gave the nod for setting up 16 MW solar power project in Tamil Nadu.

Hindustan Foods

From a single-brand company, Goa-based Hindustan Foods has diversified into various categories such as personal care, home care, food and beverages, leather shoes and accessories. The outsourced manufacturer has also entered into a supply and manufacturing agreement with Danone and has added PepsiCo and Marico to its client list. It is now planning to invest Rs 1.25 billion to establish a facility in North India and aims to touch Rs 20 billion in revenue by FY22. 

Heritage Foods

It is one of the largest private dairies in South India and has a presence in Maharashtra, Odisha, NCR Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The company recently entered the yoghurt segment by tying up with French partner Novandie Foods and is planning to expand in the high margin value-added dairy category. The Hyderabad-based company aims to be a nationally recognised brand for healthy and fresh products with revenue of Rs 60 billion by FY24.

Parag Milk Foods

The company has been producing milk and milk products at its processing facilities in Manchar and Palamaner since 1992. Its most popular brand is Gowardhan, and the rest include Pride of Cows, Go Cheese and Topp Up. Over the years, Parag has increased its focus on value-added products, In Q3FY20, value-added milk products’ contribution to revenue was 67.5% while that of milk was 12.9%. A year later, that has changed to 76.7% and 11%, respectively.

Prataap Snacks

It is one of those regional-to-national success stories, and since 2003, it has grown beyond its home state of Madhya Pradesh with 14 manufacturing facilities and 4,300 distributors across 27 states. It sells under brands such as Yellow Diamond, Avadh Snacks and Rich Feast. Like many manufacturers, Prataap, too, was hit by the COVID-19 lockdown with subsequent impact on distribution and manufacturing. In FY21, its revenue declined by around 16% to Rs 11.7 billion.

SKM Egg Products

How do you export a highly fragile product worldwide? Change its form. That’s what SKM Egg Products did with its 100% export-oriented business that sells egg powder, liquid egg and bakery mix. Globally, SKM has three subsidiaries — in Japan, Moscow and Netherlands. Like many other industries, poultry also faced challenges due to COVID-19 but the company is mulling an expansion to other regions including Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Tasty Bite

Before natural and organic became a thing, Tasty Bite was in the game. Established in 1985, it sells a wide range of ready-to-eat (RTE) products as well as frozen and gourmet eats made using natural ingredients. From its manufacturing facility in Pune, the Rs 40-billion company caters to markets such as India, North America, Australia, the Middle East and Africa. The company is expected to benefit from the increase in demand for RTE products. 

Vadilal Industries

Few companies can boast of having served ice cream for over hundred summers. Since 1907, Vadilal has grown to become India’s third-largest ice cream brand, after Kwality and Amul, with a presence in dairy and RTE foods. Vadilal, with a market cap of Rs 7 billion, took a hit from COVID-19 but according to reports, hopes to see ice cream sales improve to Rs 8 billion in FY22, from Rs 6.6 billion in FY20.

Varun Beverages

For carbonated and non-carbonated drink makers in India, Varun Beverages is one of the biggest bottlers. It manufactures and distributes non-carbonated brands such as Tropicana and Slice, and carbonated beverages such as Pepsi, Mirinda, Mountain Dew, Duke's Soda and accounts for more than 85% of PepsiCo’s beverage sales volume in India. It has a presence in six countries – India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Morocco, Zambia and Zimbabwe.