The Hindu Business Line : Tea deal talk lifts Balmer Lawrie

The recent market buzz has been that the diversified ‘mini ratna’ PSU Balmer Lawrie may soon finalise the sale of its London tea business for about Rs 100 crore and consider a 1:1 bonus to capitalise its bulging retained profits. Mr S.K. Mukherjee, MD, confirmed to Business Line that the sale of the London assets (warehouse and blending packaging unit on 24,000 sq ft area at Bradford) would be wrapped up soon. He, however, did not divulge the sale price. He also denied issue of bonus share for the present, but did not rule out the possibility in future. The company has a paid-up capital Rs 16.29 crore while reserves stood at Rs 254 crore as on March 31, 2007. The company has paid out dividend of Rs 13.50 per share of Rs 10 each for the year to March 2006-07. The company has disposed of its assets and surrendered its lease rights on land at Chembur in Mumbai for a profit of Rs 4.26 crore in the September quarter.

Acquisition plan

The company is also moving to acquire management control in four private units in business areas such as logistics services, tourism, construction and leather chemicals. “Total investments for acquiring such stakes (less than 51 per cent) planned is around Rs 200 crore; for expansion of various capacities we have earmarked another Rs 100 crore,” Mr Mukherjee added.

The stock closed lower 1.5 per cent on Thursday at Rs 537 but has gained 17 per cent in the past one week.

Jayanta Mallick

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