Bengal Tea & Fabrics Ltd - Stock Valuation and Financial Performance

Bengal Tea & Fabrics, belonging to the B D Kanoria Group was incorporated in the year 1983. The company took over the Bengal Tea & Industries, earlier known as Bengal Tea Company, in the year 1985.

Bengal Tea Company was incorporated in the year 1950 by the Kanorias and took over the undertakings of The Ananda Assam Tea Company and Asarwa Mills in the year 1970 and 1976, respectively.

Currently the company has interest in the business of Tea and Textiles, with a turnover of about Rs 126.8 crore.

The tea estates of the company are situated in Upper Assam and produces about1.7 million kilograms of quality black tea.

Asarwa Mills, a composite textile mill, is situated in the heart of Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat and has an installed capacity of 47,616 spindles and 72 looms. It was set-up in the year 1900 and is one of the oldest mills in India. The present management has modernized the mill in a phased manner to transform the same in a state-of-art, tech-savvy mill. The revenue from export of yarn is about Rs 0.372 crore.

Product Variety:

The Company has interest in the business of tea and textiles.

Tea -

Bengal Tea owns following three tea estates with an annual production of about 1.7 million kilo grams of tea, having a planted area of 623 hectares, situated in North Lakhimpur in Upper Assam.

• Ananda Tea Estate
• Pathalipam Tea Estate
• Bordeobam Tea Estate

The Company processes the green tea leaves at its own factory situated at Ananda Tea Estate. It also processes green tea leaves purchased from small growers.

Products:

Black Tea - CTC - Leaf and Dust and tea seed.

Textile -

The company owns a composite textile mill, namely Asarwa Mills, with an installed capacity of 47,616 spindles and 94 looms, situated in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat.

Products:

• Cotton Yarn
• Manmade Fiber Yarn
• Blended Yarn
• Fabrics - Cloth

Latest Development:

The board of directors of Bengal Tea & Fabrics has recommended a dividend of 5%, at Re 0.50 per equity share of Rs 10 each, subject to shareholders approval.

Outlook:

Due to improvement of demand of quality and the company’s thrust on producing the same, the tea division is expected to maintain profitability.

The outlook of the textile industry appears to be brighter as the farmers continue to cover more area for sowing of BT cottonseeds resulting in higher yields. The company has undertaken the second phase of modernization cum expansion plan and is visualizing a big opportunity in the country having a population of over 1.1 billion with the improving standard of living and changing lifestyle.