Wipro to study Unza brands before Indian push

Wipro Ltd will reconstitute the board of Unza, the Singapore-based fast-moving consumer goods major that it acquired recently, but expects to retain the top management headed by managing director Gavin D Welman.

“They have a good presence and their management team is very good and stable,” said Vineet Agarwal, president of Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting, a division of Wipro Ltd.

He said Wipro is yet to decide on whether it would bring Unza’s brands to India or take Wipro’s brands to the South-East Asian region.

“We will have to look at their products and see their relevance to the Indian market, and see which of our products is relevant to their market,” Agarwal said. “If it is relevant, we will bring it here.”

Agarwal told FE from Bangalore that said Unza’s turnover was equivalent to Rs 683 crore last year, while Wipro’s consumer care business reported a turnover of Rs 818 crore, so the combined turnover would be around Rs 1500 crore against the combined turnover of about Rs 15,000 crore reported by parent Wipro Ltd last year.

As for production bases, he said Wipro would have to study the tax structures and business volumes before taking a call on the use of production facilities. Unza has two factories in Malaysia, and one each in Vietnam, China and Indonesia.

Unza has a presence in 40 countries, but Malaysia accounts for 50% of its business, followed by Vietnam (13%), China and Hongkong (14%) and Indonesia with 9%. It is among the top three FMCG/ personal care companies in Malaysia, he said.

Meawhile, Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting has reported a revenue growth of 33% to Rs 235 crore in the quarter to June 30, 2007, over the same quarter of the previous year, while profit before interest and tax rose 32% to Rs 30.5 crore.

Agarwal said the compounded annual growth rate per year has been over 30% for the last three years. “Our profits have been good at an operating margin of 13% and have grown by 32% this quarter,” he said, attributing the good results to all the lines in the division.

“Overall, a 33% growth can happen only if everything does well,” he said. Apart from its own brands like the Santoor premium toilet soap, Wipro has acquired the Chandrika soap brand, the Glucovita drink brand and the Northwest electrical switches brand over the past three years.