The brand building exercise augurs well for the company as not only will this add substantially to its revenue and enhance its presence in the market, but also help the company's scrip to attract a much better discounting on the bourses.

No wonder the company has already been re-rated by the market as an FMCG which is either marketing or having attractive brands like `Sweekar', `Sil' and `Revive' apart from its popular brands like `Parachute' and `Safolla'. The company's scrip in the past couple of months has zoomed from a low of Rs 300 to a high of Rs 750, before falling marginally to the current level of Rs 620 on the Bombay StockExchange.

Although going by the scrip's performance in the past few months, it may not necessarily fall under the category of a dark horse. However, the true worth of the scrip has yet to be determined in light of the attractive brands the company carries. These levels may just give an indication of the level this scrip can attain once the proposed plans go on stream.

The decision to acquire `Mediker' from P&G comes after the rumours that the company was planning to transfer its key selling brands, `Parachute' and `Saffola' from its subsidiary to itself.

The Indian subsidiary of the US giant, Procter & Gamble India Ltd (P&G) has divested its Mediker business (anti-lice treatment shampoo) in favour of Marico Industries for a consideration Rs 10 crore. The acquisition of this niche brand would help Marico make a foray into the hair treatment segment.

Apart from the purchase of Mediker, the company will also be marketing a few other brands of Procter & Gamble from July 1999. These include popular P&Gbrands such as `Old spice' and `Clearasil'. The decision would also help P&G concentrate on its core brands like `Whisper' and `Vicks' as these offer growth opportunities. The move to take up distribution of more and more brands is part of the company's overall policy and a separate division for its sales and marketing was created last year. In 1998, Marico entered into a marketing and distribution alliance with Indo Nissin Foods for its instant noodles under the brand, `Top Ramen' and `Cup Noodles'.

During the year ended March 31, 1999, Marico declared a 25 per cent growth in its bottomline. Net profit improved to Rs 37.51 crore against Rs 30.04 crore reported in the previous year. The company declared a final dividend of 55 per cent for 1998-99. Turnover during the year stood at 550 crore, up 12.2 per cent from Rs 490 crore in the previous year. The company's performance improved substantially in the second half. revenues improved by over 15 per cent against 9 per cent in the first half. With theexception of `Saffola', whose volumes suffered due to raw material shortages, the company's all major brands registered volume growth.

`Parachute' and `Saffola' are currently owned by Marico Industries' group company, Bombay Oil Industries Ltd (BOIL). Although the two brands are owned by BOIL, but they are on perpetual lease to Marico. These contribute almost 70 per cent to the company total turnover. Parachute enjoys a 52.3 per cent marektshare in the branded coconut oil segment. To leverage the Parachute brand name, Marico had launched three variants of Parachute last year - Parachute Lite, Parachute Nutri Sheen Liquid and Parachute Nutri Sheen Liquid Cream.

Marico's existing brand in the value-added hair oil market is Hair & Care, which has a market share of around 20 per cent in the non-sticky hair oils market. The Rs 110 crore value-added coconut oil category has two large players, Dabur Vatika and Hindustan Lever's Clinic Plus, commanding a share of nearly 40 per cent each.