J.L Morison to continue as independent brand, Hemas says
View(s):New owners of J.L. Morison Son & Jones (Ceylon) PLC (JLM), Hemas Holdings PLC said the company will continue as an independent brand and have no plans to amalgamate it with other Hemas brands. The acquisition will further strengthen the generic pharmaceutical manufacturing operation at JLM, officials said.
Hemas Manufacturing, a unit of the Hemas Group which is into the food, consumer goods and pharmaceuticals trade, on Thursday acquired a majority stake in J.L. Morison for Rs. 1.7 billion, after weeks of speculation of such a deal.
The JLM Group has a portfolio of well-established consumer brands including Lacto Calamine, Valmelix, Morrison’s Gripe Mixture and Morrison’s Baby products. “These are strong brands and the brands that we own are slightly different,” new JLM CEO Trehan Perera told the Business Times, adding that as an example JLM’s Morison’s Baby and Hemas’ Baby Cheramy are slightly different propositions and they have independent brand equity.
JLM distributes Good Knight, Kiwi, Wipro, Nivea, Garnier and L’Oreal as well as manufacturing and distributing pharmaceutical products island wide. “These are strong brands and they have strong distribution. JLM complements our pharmaceutical presence,” Mr. Perera said.
He said that JLM’s generic pharmaceutical manufacturing operation is a new area for Hemas and they plan to strengthen it.
JLM’s outgoing CEO, Nihal Samaranayake will act as an advisor to the new owners, Mr. Perera said. Hemas Group registered a post-tax profit of Rs 1.9 billion in the year ended March 31, 2013, up from 53.3 per cent last year.
The group posted a growth of 42.3 per cent in earnings to close at Rs. 1.6 billion. Operating profit was up 36.4 per cent to Rs. 2.4 billion.
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