Dubai: Amira Nature Foods, a leading global provider of packaged Indian speciality rice, announced an aggressive market plan for the GCC region, officials said at the Gulfood exhibition and conference.
The company, which expects a 20 per cent growth in revenue to $405 million for the year ending March 31, is also looking at opportunities to acquire companies in the Gulf, where food business is growing at a fast pace.
“The Middle East represents 50 per cent of our revenue and we see lots of opportunities,” Karan A. Chanana, Amira’s chairman and chief executive officer, said. “We plan to grow organically, but if the right opportunities [for acquisition] come, we will look into that as well.”
He said the company might be interested in investing agro-based industry in the UAE and the GCC region in future. “But not in the immediate future,” he said.
India represents a third of the company’s business.
In October 2012, Amira Nature Foods Ltd became the 12th Indian company to complete an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock trades on the NYSE under ticker symbol, ANFI.
Amira has identified the GCC region, and in particular the UAE as an important market for its products. The UAE offers strong opportunities for growth with a highly diverse population of 5.5 million and GDP growing at three per cent.
“The UAE is an important market for Amira, due to its significant consumption of basmati rice. We are excited to introduce our best in class products to the refined palates of UAE and other GCC customers,” said Chanana. “Amira’s key focus is to make the Amira brand available to every household in the UAE. Amira is an acknowledged leader in delivering high quality and innovative food products to a growing number of markets across the globe, and we now want to focus our efforts in the GCC markets.”
