G.R.N. Somashekar

Sweet scent: The President, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, Mr Vineet Agarwal, displaying Yardley products at a press conference in Bangalore on Thursday. —

Our Bureau

Bangalore, Nov. 5 Wipro Ltd has brought the iconic Yardley London brand into its fold.

Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting (the FMCG arm of the company) announced today that it has acquired the Yardley businesses for Asia, Australasia and the North and West African markets for close to Rs 214 crore from the UK-based Lornamead Group, which currently owns the brand.

The Group has, however, retained its Yardley businesses in Europe and the Americas.

The Yardley deal, to be fully funded through internal accruals, is on a run rate business of $24 million (Rs 113 crore) for this fiscal and the transaction is expected to be completed by mid-December, said Mr Vineet Agrawal, President, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting.

The 239-year-old English brand, famous for its signature fragrances English Lavender, Lily of the Valley and English Rose, has products across various categories such as talcum powders, perfumes and soaps. Wipro plans to add deodorants, body washes, shaving creams and after-shaves to the range.

The brand has had a strong presence in the West Asian markets, with almost 70 per cent of Lornamead’s revenues coming from the region.

With this acquisition, Wipro Consumer Care would see its revenues from the West Asian countries double at around Rs 141 crore from the current Rs 70 crore, said Mr Dipak Kumar Bohra, General Manager, Finance, Wipro Ltd.

“Though Yardley’s presence in India is still small (about 20 per cent of its Asian revenues), we want to expand it dramatically,” said Mr Agrawal.

The transaction, he said, would add a strong brand to its current portfolio of brands comprising Santoor, Chandrika, Glucovita, Unza and Northwest. The company acquired Singapore-based Unza for Rs 1,010 crore in July 2007.

The company hopes to take Yardley to at least 50,000 outlets soon. Yardley would now be Wipro’s most premium brand on retail shelves.

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