Dabur to set up arm for retail

Consumer goods company Dabur India today announced plans to enter the fast growing organised retail sector in India. The company will set up a wholly owned subsidiary H&B Stores through which it will execute its retail plans.

According to a notice sent to the Bombay Stock Exchange, Dabur will invest Rs 140 crore by 2010 into its retail venture.

These will be a chain of health & beauty stores and the company plans to roll out 350 outlets over the first five years. V C Burman, chairman, Dabur India said, "Retail is the next big focus area for Dabur India. H&B Stores plans to set up 350 retail stores across India in 5 years and expand it to over 1,000 stores by its 10th year of operation."

The stores will range from 1,500 sq ft to 6,000 sq ft in size and will be modelled along international formats.

The company has rolled in three senior professionals for its new venture. It said that the expatriates have retail experience of more than 25 years each in fields like merchandising, store design and sourcing. The company already runs a chain of ayurvedic stores Dabur Ayurvedic Centres.

The Board of Directors today also announced an interim dividend of 75 per cent for 2006-07 on the enhanced capital (post-Bonus issue). The total dividend for 2006-07 on the pre-bonus capital is 213 per cent.