TTK Prestige looking at post-Brexit scenario to determine plans in Europe

The company had acquired UK-based cookware brand Horwood Homewares in April this year

Kitchen appliances major TTK Prestige, part of TTK Group, is looking at how the post Brexit scenario in Europe is developing, in order to formulate correct strategies to grow its market in the region.

While the company in April acquired Horwood Homewares, a UK-based cookware brand, to grow in the region, following Brexit, the company has to figure out how Brexit impacts the rest of Europe, to formulate correct strategies, said a senior management official.

The company acquired the UK-based brand since it has a significant presence in UK and the group has its ambitions to build a brand outside India. It is in early days in terms of strategy and how it wants to leverage this acquisition. However, with Brexit in place, it also has to look at what impact it would have in the European Union market and whether it needs to re-look at its strategies.

"I don't know whether Europe could be a single market now. Chances are that it will not be a single market. If it is not going to be a single market, maybe we would have to realign our strategies to go into Europe and into which part of Europe. The geopolitical and economic questions that are there, I think are too many and there are too many imponderables today," said Chandru Karlo, managing director of TTK Prestige Ltd.

In Europe, apart from UK, Germany and France are two large economies which are interesting markets for the company, while it is also looking at expanding into other geographies with the brand, including in Africa, the Far East and even in India.

"We just want to live with it for a couple of quarters, to see how it is going, how much is the management bandwidth that could be expanded – those are things that we need time to know," he added. The company might also look at acquisition opportunities, while sticking to the policy that it would not own any manufacturing facilities outside India, in order to reach the ambition it has set to triple its revenue to Rs 5,000 crore in three years.

TTK Prestige is also looking at doubling its exports with an expanded range of products. At present, exports are around four-five per cent of its total business and plans are to take it up to 10 per cent of the total business in next four to five years. While it is largely exporting pressure cookers to overseas, a market which is not very large, it is looking at exporting cookware and other products in its portfolio to overseas. Currently it has exports to around 40 countries.

The company is expanding its distribution network and product range in cleaning solutions, a segment which has entered of late. It currently has around 20-25 products in the segment, both electric and non-electric products, and has plans to launch 15-20 more products in another six months. It has a reach of around 5,000 outlets at present and the growth targets could be set once the platform is prepared and see a full year of operation, he said.

At present, about 35 per cent of its business is from pressure cookers, about 20 per cent from cookware, around 20 per cent from gas stove, and the rest comprises of small appliances and mixer grinders. The appliances are a larger landscape, the market is large and the company has the ability to scale up, over a period of time it will grow faster than the traditional products, he said.