Noida-based Havells India, a company specialised in the manufacture and sale of electrical and power distribution equipment with an annual global turnover of $1.2 billion, has opened its new European headquarters in London with a view to expand the business prospects.

“We are very bullish about the future prospects of business here,” the Havells India Ltd Joint Managing Director, Mr Anil Gupta, told PTI.

“While most of the companies are trying to cut jobs in Europe, we are actually looking at expanding our base here. In the last one year, we have hired 60 to 70 people in sales,” he said, adding that the company has 1,850 employees in Europe, including 300 in the UK.

He said earlier, the European headquarters of the company was in Germany, but it has been shifted to London, “where a lot of innovation is being done’’.

The company which took over Sylvania, a loss-making unit in 2007 and turned it around, has spent £6 million on research and development in the UK.

“Havells is one of the largest and fastest-growing manufacturers of electrical components and systems in India, with a global turnover in excess of $1.2 billion,” he said.

“When we acquired Sylvania in 2007, a failing business for $600 million, it was a big move for us because it was one-and-a-half times our size.

“It was followed by global economic crisis for two years as 70 per cent of Sylvania’s sales were in Europe and 30 per cent in Latin America. The company incurred losses for two years. Undeterred, we entered into a major restructuring programme and successfully completed it last year. Now the company is back into profit,” Mr Gupta said.

Havells has four plants in Europe, one in the UK, one in Belgium, one in France, one in Germany, two in Latin America and nine in India.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW