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| Tuesday, 12 October 2004 |
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Hemas enters feminine hygiene category - acquires Fems brand Venturing outside its core business of Personal care, Hemas Marketing purchased the Fems brand from Maxims Ltd Neville Ruwanpathirana - Director New Business Development, commenting on the deal said that 'the transaction made strategic sense to Hemas and Maxims. For Hemas, this gives us a foothold in the Rs. 300 million feminine hygiene products market. At present the Fems range consists only of Loops and Press-on's and has a 20% share of this market. Given the low penetration (around 39%) in use of female hygiene products and the rapid rise in women's earnings, there is much potential to leverage the brand. Fems was the successor to Kotex which was manufactured and distributed in Sri Lanka by Maxims since the 1950s. In 1994, the Kimberly-Clark Corporation withdrew Kotex from this market and the brand was migrated into Fems. Even today, Fems products are manufactured according to international standards and Maxims will continue to manufacture the product for Hemas in a long-term supply contract. MD Hemas Personal care sector Debu Bhatnagar commenting on the deal said that 'Hemas is always looking for opportunities to accelerate the pace of growth and has an excellent track record of making successful acquisitions and adding value to the brand'. He cited the example of brands such as Goya and Gold which were purchased from Reckitt & Colman several years ago and which have now become market leaders. He said that 'in today's competitive market competing with multinationals is no easy task, and local companies need to acquire scale and sharp marketing skills if we are to survive'. For Hemas, building our own brands has always being the driving passion within our company and having built our business in Personal care up to a strong position, we are actively looking at opportunities in related segments which will give us opportunities to leverage our marketing and distribution capabilities, he said. |
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