Arun ice-creams will help to beat the summer heat!

Ben Ungermann, the Masterchef Australia 2017 runner-up and ice-cream maestro, has said that Bengaluru will be the launch pad for his offbeat ice-creams in India. The 34-year-old was in the IT city to launch a brunch at The Whitefield Arms pub. 

He visited Bengaluru as part of his tour covering Indonesia, South Africa, India, Dubai, Singapore and Netherlands. 

Ungermann said, "I would love to open my ice-cream store in India and Bengaluru would be an incredible place for the launch. Bengaluru is known to be a high-tech city and open to unique food which is a great fit for me as I don’t tend to do anything mainstream."

Earlier this year, the chef opened his flagship ice-cream store in his hometown Ipswich, Australia.

"My most offbeat ice-cream combination is lavender-honeycomb followed by pumpkin seed oil-vanilla. Our most popular one is salted caramel bacon pecan ice-cream," he said. 

Ungermann further added, "Not many know that, interestingly, dessert was considered to my weak point at Masterchef. At the competition, we were given a suggestion to focus on our weak areas. In my case, it was desserts. I worked hard at conquering it and found that I had a real knack for desserts, especially boutique ice-creams."

Creambell, one of the India's fastest growing ice cream brands has introduced CHOCKERZ - India's first ever stick-less ice cream bar to celebrate this festive season.

Chockerz is a rich confection of peanut butter flavor with caramel sauce, nuts sprinkled on the top and coated with chocolate. Creambell ice creams claim to have notched up an impressive range of creative combinations in the ice cream and ice cream dessert segment.

Nitin Arora, Chief Executive Officer, Creambell Ice Cream said, "Globally, the demand for stick-less extruded ice cream products in exciting new flavor and texture combinations is growing fast. Therefore, it is a pleasure for us to introduce India's first stick-less ice cream Chokerz, which both surprises and delights with its mix of flavours and textures. We are confident that this will win the hearts of ice cream lovers everywhere."

RI Bureau

Kwality Limited, India's premier dairy foods company reported net sales of Rs 1441.22 crores up by 12.06 per cent for Q3FY16 as against Rs 1286.11 crores in the corresponding quarter of last year; net profit before tax during the same period stood at Rs 52.92 crores up by 19.70 per cent as against Rs 44.21 crores for the quarter ended 31st December 2014.  The EBIDTA at Rs 97.44 crore is up by 14.19 per cent as against Rs 85.33 crores in the corresponding quarter of last year.

Q3 FY16 Results (Comparisons with Q3 FY15)

• Net Sales at Rs 1441.22 crore vis-a-vis Rs 1286.11 crore

• PBT at Rs 52.92 crore vis-à-vis Rs 44.21 crore

•  EBIDTA at Rs 97.44 crore vis-a-vis Rs 85.33   crore

9M FY16 Results (Comparisons with 9M FY15)

• Net Sales at Rs 4285.09 crore vis-à-vis Rs 3909.21 crore

• PBT at Rs 151.22 crore vis-à-vis Rs 126.69 crore

• EBIDTA at Rs 284.94 crore vis-a-vis Rs 241.41  crore

For nine months ended December 31, 2015, the company reported Net Sales of Rs 4285.09 crores up by 9.62 per cent as against Rs 3909.21 crores in the corresponding nine months period of last year; net profit before tax during the same period stood at Rs 151.22 crores up by 19.36 per cent at as against Rs 126.69 crores for corresponding nine months period of last year. The EBIDTA at Rs 284.93 crore is up by 18.03 per cent as against Rs 241.41 crores in the corresponding period of last year.

Mr. Sanjay Dhingra, Managing Director, Kwality Ltd comments on the same, “We have recorded another quarter of good growth, which is in line with our expectations. We can attribute this growth to our focus towards strengthening the retail segment, which has helped us in registering these strong numbers. With the signing of Akshay Kumar as our brand ambassador and extension of our Palwal plant, we expect the momentum to continue and grow in the coming quarters.

Vadilal, India's oldest ice-cream brand, now after eight decades is facing a meltdown. The Gandhis who own the popular brand, which also has the second largest share of the national market, are caught in a battle for control in the Company Law Board, with each side accusing the other of mismanagement and financial impropriety, reported ET.

The beginning of the dispute between the children and nephew of the late Ramchandra Gandhi lies in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 1999 among family members. As per the agreement, Ramchandra's sons Virendra (elder) and Rajesh and his brother Lakshman's son Devanshu had an equal share or one-third each of the total promoter stake in all Vadilal Group companies, including the unlisted Vadilal Chemicals.

The current promoter shareholding in Vadilal Industries and Vadilal Enterprises, both listed, is 65.28 per cent and 51.49 per cent respectively. While Vadilal Enterprises manufactures ice-cream, Vadilal Industries sells the product and owns the brand rights.

Ramchandra's third son Shailesh Gandhi had separated from the family business in the early 1990s but owned territorial rights for the Vadilal brand in Maharashtra and south India. Ranchodlal Vadilal Gandhi started the ice-cream business in pre-Independence Ahmedabad in 1935. His sons Ramchandra Gandhi (father of Virendra, Rajesh and Shailesh) and Lakshman Gandhi (father of Devanshu) joined the business sometime in 1945.

The MoU, now part of the petition filed by Virendra Gandhi in the Company Law Board in Mumbai, said, "The joint business will be equally owned and none of the parties can directly or indirectly increase stake in any of the listed company or partnership firm without written concept."

Dinshaw Dairy Foods Ltd., India's oldest ice-cream companies, is on the block and the promoters of the 82-year-old Nagpur-based firm are in talks with private equity funds Actis and Apax Partners and other strategic investors, reported ET.

The promoters of the company, which is a part of the Bapuna Group, are said to be seeking a valuation of Rs 2,000 crore and appointed investment bank Moelis and Company as advisor.

"Actis and Apax Partners are carrying out due diligence and there are a couple of other consumer companies that, too, have evinced interest," said an investment banker with knowledge of the development.

"At present, a majority sale is being considered, but the owners are ready to exit at a lucrative valuation", he said. Another banker said succession issues and management differences among the promoters could be why the dairy company is up for sale. The reason for the sale could not be confirmed. Aspi Bapuna, chairman of the Bapuna Group, said an exercise is under way to ascertain brand value of Dinshaw's.

"We have not yet taken any decision," he said, adding that the brand's value exceeds Rs 2,300 crore.

Sam and Jimmy Rana, the sons of the founder-brothers Dinshaw and Erachshaw Rana, respectively, merged the company with Nagpur-based distillery group Bapuna in 2002. The group owns a 50 per cent stake in the company.

"In recent years, India's dairy market has generated significant amount of interest among private equity as well as strategic investors. We have also witnessed a significant number of international dairy players looking to invest in the country," said Nishesh Dalal, partner, deal advisory, at KPMG in India.

According to Dalal, dairy is predominantly a regional business with the exception of a few national and multinational private companies that have created a nationwide network.

Kwality, dairy firm reported a 4 per cent increase in standalone net profit at Rs 37.89 crore for the September quarter. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 36.56 crore in the year-ago period, reported PTI.

Total income from operations grew over 10 per cent to Rs 1,432.96 crore for the quarter under review as against Rs 1,296.92 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, said Kwality in a regulatory filing.

Finance cost increased to Rs 39.43 crore for the quarter from Rs 30.49 crore in the year-ago period, while tax expenses rose to Rs 12.29 crore in the period under review from Rs 5.84 crore in the year-ago period.

"The financial results for this quarter are in line with the company's strategy of achieving profitable growth. Our persistent focus on customers and quality of our products has helped us to take on the margin pressures, which resulted in the overall positive performance of the company," said Sanjay Dhingra MD at Kwality.

He further says, the company is aggressively eyeing the retail market, which is sure to further propel the growth of the company.

"The work at our plant is on full momentum and we are confident to have the same ready as per the plan. Going forward we see better margins as we intend to introduce new value added products across geographies in phased manner", said Sunit Shangle CFO of Kwality.

With six milk processing units in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, Kwality caters to retail customers under its own brand 'Dairy Best' and supplies dairy products to institutional customers, which includes MNCs and Indian firms.

Recently, the firm secured rights from its founding father PL Lamba to use the 'Kwality' artwork for its dairy products and beverages.