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10
May 2007
It is oft repeated, yet a charming and powerful
imagery: the morphing of a caterpillar into a
beautiful butterfly that can fly unrestrained
over flowery meadows. At Aditya Birla Nuvo that
is what we do — acquire young, nascent businesses,
nurture them, make them strong and then give them
wings to fly on their own.
Speaking
on the occasion of releasing the annual business
performance numbers to the media and analysts,
Dr. Bharat Singh, Managing Director, said, "Aditya
Birla Nuvo is a business builder. We nurture promising
businesses, putting a hand on their shoulders,
giving them finances, manpower and all other support
to help them grow, flower, bloom and then stand
on their own feet."
This
is amply evident from the recent listing of Idea
on the stock exchanges. Over the last two years,
Aditya Birla Nuvo increased its stake in the company
from 4.3 per cent to 20.7 per cent to 35.7 per cent.
It gave Idea some of its top management people,
it shared best practices and most importantly, it
gave the company the umbrella of the Aditya Birla
Group. The efforts paid rich dividends when Idea
finally became a listed company in March 2007.
Over
and above telecom (Idea) which is now self driven,
three other businesses are also experiencing Nuvo's
hand holding — BPO, insurance and financial
services and garment retail.
It
was
indeed a momentous
occasion for TransWorks,
a BPO company acquired by Nuvo in 2003,
when
it bought over Minacs, a leading Canadian BPO player,
four times its size, in June last year.
Since
then, seven new sites have been added in Philippines,
North America and India. New customers have come
into the fold and the growth graph is showing a
healthy upward trend.
Similarly,
Madura Garments,
which achieved a turnover of Rs.700 crore in 2006-2007,
is all set to expand its retail presence even
more rapidly with investments of over Rs.290 crore.
The brands in its stable — Louis Philippe,
Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England —
are expanding their reach through larger format
and exclusive stores. All this, of course, with
the firm backing of Nuvo's strong balance sheet.
In
the last year, Birla
Sun Life Insurance has ramped up its agency
force from about 17,000 to over 56,000. The number
of branches has gone up to 137. It continues to
invest in and leverage technology to give its
customers new levels of service. Due to these
investments, it is possible that the break even
may be still two years away. But Nuvo's staying
power ensures that the company can continue to
remain focused on launching new and innovative
products to different customer segments.
For
the year ended 31 March 2007, Aditya Birla Nuvo
posted
a revenue of Rs.8,258 crore and net profit
of Rs.281 crore.
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