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| Ferns N Petals in stake sale talks with US firms |
| Nivedita Mookerji / New Delhi Feb 05, 2012, 00:06 IST |
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Ferns N Petals (FNP), the flower retail chain, is planning to sell some of its equity to a foreign company.
The privately-held company is in talks with American firms in the same line of business, founder chairman Vikaas Gutgutia told Business Standard. He added it was also scouting for partners in the domestic market (worth Rs 1,000 crore annually).
The company imports flowers from China, Thailand and the Netherlands, in that order of volume. Gutgutia says it is serious about entering foreign markets to pursue growth. Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are among the international markets where it wishes to set up shop this year. “We shall be present in Dubai, too, by 2013,” he added.
The Rs 150-crore chain has 115 stores in India, including franchisees. The company is targeting Rs 500-crore annual revenue by the end of 2015.
FNP is among the few branded flower retail chains in India, where this is mostly an unorganised market. “We do get strong competition from the unorganised market; the market is huge and totally disordered,” said the FNP founder. He named 1-800-flowers.com as the company’s biggest international competitor.
The company also plans to expand in Tier-II and Tier-III towns, after a positive response in places like Coimbatore, Tirupati, Nellore, Sangli, Surat, Siliguri and Meerut. Delhi remains the chain’s primary market, followed by the other metros. “People in bigger cities have disposable income and they are also exposed to western culture,” said Gutgutia.
In the country, “there are a couple of brands that have showed interest in us. We have received invites for promotional tie-ups. But at this stage, we are not looking for any mergers,” said Gutgutia.
On sourcing flowers, he said, “Europe proves to be an expensive proposition, so it works well to go to Asian countries like China and Thailand.”
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