ADF Foods plans ₹100 crore capex

livemint.com:

₹450 crore currently, as it aims to tap into the growing demand for pre-cooked food items across international and domestic markets. Currently, 98% of the Mumbai-based company’s revenues come from overseas sales, but it is ramping up its domestic business with the newly-launched pickle and cooking pastes brand Soul, which it plans to grow to ₹100 crore in the next three years, its chairman and managing director Bimal Thakkar told Mint in an interview. The company will invest ₹100 crore over the next two years to expand its manufacturing capacity, while eyeing acquisitions for inorganic growth.

“We are a debt-free company, sitting on a cash reserve of over ₹150 crore. Currently, we have two manufacturing facilities across Gujarat and Maharashtra and have already identified a place in Surat to build a 1 lakh square feet greenfield plant. This will cost around ₹60 crore.

We are also expanding existing capacity and investing ₹30-40 crore for that," Thakkar said. ADF Foods is open to inorganic expansion as well. “We are value buyers and are constantly evaluating possible takeovers.

It has to be complimentary to our business," he added. In Gujarat, the company has a 15,000-square-metre factory in Nadiad, while the Nashik facility is spread across 10,100 square metres. It also has two warehouses in Atlanta and New Jersey in the US, totalling 1 lakh square feet.

Thakkar said that the company is on track to doubling its revenue every three years, as its flagship brand Ashoka continues to grow at a 35% compounded annual growth rate, while other brands like Truly Indian and Soul show good traction. “Ashoka is already a brand of over ₹200 crore, serving the Indian diaspora overseas. Truly Indian, which caters to non-Indians, is