MUNNAR: Buoyed by a record turnover in 2020-21, Kannan Devan Hill Plantations (KDHP), the largest tea plantation company in South India, has given a 4 percent hike in bonus to its employees. The company disbursed a 16 percent bonus to its employees, as against 12 percent in the previous year, on Thursday.
Earlier, the Annual General Meeting of the company held on August 14 had declared 12 percent dividend for shareholders as against 6 percent in the previous year. During the financial year that ended on March 31, 2021, KDHP had achieved a record turnover of Rs 429.82 crore registering 19 percent increase over the previous year. The profit after tax for the year was Rs 25.62 crore with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBIDTA) of Rs 43.13 crore.
The company also achieved significant growth in the sales of its brand, “Ripple tea”, with sales of more than 2 million kg primarily in Kerala. This was despite the partial closure of its six branded retail stores “Ripple tea - Chai Bazaar” due to COVID restrictions.
The company is aggressively pursuing increasing its B2C business and is expanding its branded tea sales in Tamil Nadu also.
KDHP has been focusing on modernization and automation of its 16 factories to improve value addition, quality and prices. KDHP has also been focusing on mechanization of field operations to improve operating efficiencies. The performance improved in FY21 primarily due to the improvement in tea prices because of the shortfall in production in India due to COVID related issues.
KDHP is an associate company of Tata Consumer Products Limited which holds a 28% stake in it.