FMCG major Jyothy Laboratories is targeting revenues of ₹500 crore by 2021 from its ayurvedic and naturals portfolio where it has brands like Margo toilet soap and Neem toothpaste.
Both the brands have been a part of the acquired Henkel’s portfolio and have been pegged as the fastest growing brands in the domestic company’s kitty.
“Margo and Neem are the two ayurvedic brands in our portfolio that came to us from Henkel as part of its seven brands. Since the naturals/ayurveda wave has caught up with the FMCG industry, we would be building up this business further with a target to reach ₹500 crore of business by 2021,’’ said K Ulhas Kamath, Joint Managing Director, Jyothy Labs.
In fact, during the third quarter, Margo recorded the highest growth at 44 per cent with the toilet soap being pitted against established national brands. Its non-traditional markets contributed to the bulk of its growth during the quarter, while its traditional markets like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu saw its growth rates dip from 50 per cent to 30 per cent.
Margo toilet soap brand has a turnover of ₹175 crore and there are extensions like facewash and handwash that have been planned.
“We have already reformulated the original toilet soap of Margo and it has been growing even in its non-traditional markets by 30 per cent,’’ added Kamath.
Even Neem toothpaste, which has restricted presence in the East and South, is now being pushed to have a national presence and there are plans to export the brand to countries in South-East Asia.
“We added Neem as one of the seven brands from Henkel’s portfolio and currently it has a turnover of ₹30 crore. Neem would also get exported and enter new markets like Malaysia,’’ said Kamath.
Recently, German multinational Henkel decided not to exercise its option to acquire stake in Jyothy Labs as had been envisaged in the past. However, the domestic FMCG company will continue to build Henkel’s brands in the country with the exception of its Fa brand of deos.
“We acquired seven brands from Henkel of which Pril and Fa will continue to be the two licensed brands,’’ he said.
Jyothy Labs will be building on the dishwash liquid brand of Pril which has been growing at 15 per cent with a turnover of ₹150 crore.
However, it has decided to sideline the deo brand of Fa. “Fa is a stagnant brand and while it has revenues of about ₹22 crore, we would not spend in its advertisement,’’ he said.
Jyothy Labs reported a net revenue of ₹431.2 crore for the quarter ended December 31, up by 15.9 per cent from the corresponding quarter. Net profit was up by 59.3 per cent and stood at ₹32.9 crore against ₹20.7 crore.