Lotus Chocolate Company Ltd - Stock Valuation and Financial Performance

Lotus Chocolate Company Limited is a public limited company, incorporated on October 3, 1988. The company was promoted by the popular Telugu film actress, Smt. T. Sarada. She teamed up with a well-known technocrat, Vijayaragavan Nambiar and established a state-of-the-art facility at Nasthipur village, about 60 km away from Hyderabad.

Lotus Chocolate Company was soon listed on the Bombay and Hyderabad Stock exchanges and witnessed tremendous support from the investing public. The Company saw an opportunity in specialty fat chocolates and tied up with Sunshine Allied Investments Limited, Singapore, which has an expertise in specialty fat chocolates. Subsequently, the company launched the Chocotreat product range in the Indian market under the brand name of Kandos.

The company is engaged in the business of manufacturing, buying, selling, import and export of all kinds of chocolate products, chocolate confectionary, derivatives of cocoa and beverages etc.

In 1995 Sunshine Allied Investments Limited merged with Network Foods International Ltd., which is part of the prestigious Malaysian United Industries (MUI) Group that subsequently became the majority equity partner in Lotus Chocolate Ltd.

Over the years, various moulded and panned products under the brand names of 'Kandos' and 'Tango' became popular with consumers in South and Central India. At the same time, the company's range of pure cocoa butter chocolates, and derivatives like cocoa butter and cocoa powder penetrated into the industrial markets as well as bakeries and the top 5 Star hotel kitchens in India.

In 2008, two Hyderabad based entrepreneurs, Mr. Prakash Pai and Mr. Anantha Pai , bought over the total equity share from NFIL, thus making Lotus Chocolate Company Limited, an Indian owned entity.

The Company's manufacturing facility is located at Doulatabad, about 60 kms from Hyderabad in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The best of imported machinery from Germany, UK, Denmark & Italy is used to generate 3500 MT per annum of Cocoa beans and derivatives like Cocoa Butter & Cocoa Powder and around 3000 MT per annum of moulded, panned and industrial chocolate products.

Lotus Chocolate Company has an outstanding distribution network that places our products in 60,000 outlets through carefully selected Re-Distributors.

To ensure that customers get world class products, Lotus has 6 fully air-conditioned warehouses. These strategically located warehouses have the capacity to store the products under regulated temperatures and humidity levels. In addition, the Company has a fleet of air conditioned vehicles for safe transportation of the products.

Product range of the company includes:

Consumer Products

• Lotus Tango
• Lotus Super Car
• Lotus On & On
• Lotus Kajoos
• Lotus Crispy
• Lotus Maltys
• Lotus Kiddies  
• Lotus Chuckles 
• Lotus Chuckles (Strawberry)

Industrial Products

• Lotus Cocoa Mass (Natural)A superb, all-purpose mass made Cocoa Liquor, from the finest of cocoa beans fermented and roasted   to perfection. It has a fat content of 51% to 54% and a professional can design suitable chocolateproducts to get a true, chocolate flavor.
• Lotus Cocoa Mass (Alkalised)A premium darkened Cocoa mass with a fat content of 51% to 54 %. The Alkalised Cocoa liquor may be used whenever a darker and a more rounded chocolate flavour is required.
• Lotus Cocoa Powder (Natural Low Fat)The product is derived from Natural Cocoa Liquor grind from selected Cocoa beans. Cocoa powder of low fat content (range 10% -12%) is very suitable in use for beverage, biscuits, ice- creams, bakery products, desserts, nut pastes and confectionery coatings. Cocoa powder natural low fat 10% -12 % fat content is available on request. Lotus supplies different fat content Cocoa powders based on Customer need.
• Lotus Cocoa Powder (Alkalised Low Fat)This product is derived from Dutch processed Cocoa Liquor; dark colour Cocoa Powder with a rich Cocoa flavour is produced. This powder may be used where rich, deep colour is required in the final product. Cocoa powder alkalised low fat (10% - 12% fat content) is a standard product available all the time. Lotus also supplies different fat content cocoa powders based on customer need.
• Lotus Cocoa Butter (Pure Prime Pressed) Pure prime pressed deodourised Cocoa Butter obtained from selected cocoa beans. This versatile product may be used in milk, dark and bitter chocolates. This product is rich in natural antioxidants and used in sophisticated cosmetic formulations. 
• Lotus Milk Chocolate A Premium Milk Chocolate with creamy milk chocolate taste exclusively made using high grade Milk Powder, deodourised Cocoa Butter and treated Cocoa Liquor. This product needs tempering.
• Lotus Plain Chocolate A true bitter chocolate with intense chocolate flavour and mild sweetness made from Dutch processed cocoa liquor and deodourised cocoa butter with deep dark colour and high cocoa solids. This product needs tempering.
• Lotus White Chocolate A premium Milky White Chocolate with intense creamy milk flavour, specially made from high grade Milk Powders and Cocoa Butter. This product can be used for moulding and covering. This product needs tempering.
• Lotus Milk Choco Paste A smooth chocolate preparation balanced with chocolate and milk flavors.
• Lotus Milk Choco Milk Choco is a premium specialty product that is made using high grade milk powder, cocoa powder and specialty fat. It has a rich milk chocolate taste and has a unique smoothness, gloss and unmatched snap. This product does not need tempering and is to ready to use.
• Lotus Plain Choco A bitter sweet chocotreat with intense chocolate flavour and mild sweetness specially made from Dutch processed Cocoa Powder with deep dark colour, mixed with specialty fats. This product also doesn't require tempering for moulding and covering. Its unique smoothness, gloss and snap are unmatchable.
• Lotus Milk Choco (500 Gms) A premium milky white choco with intense creamy milk flavour, specially made from high grade milk powders and specialty fats. This product also doesn't require tempering for moulding and covering. Its unique smoothness, gloss and snap are unmatchable.Lotus ICC Plain Ready to use dark covering; excellent for spraying on wafer cones before filling ice cream. This covering keeps wafer cone crisp for long periods of time. 
• Lotus ICC Milk Ready to dip milk covering; excellent for coating on ice cream candies (like chocobar). This smooth milk and mild chocolate flavour is a tailor made product that maintains uniform thickness on each ice-cream bar when coated at 38 - 400C. 
• Lotus ICC Plain Concentrate This concentrate form of plain ice cream coating is very rich in chocolate flavour and is dark in colour. It may be diluted with refined coconut oil or refined palm kernel oil in the ratio of 1.25 - 1.5 part ICC-Concentrate plain to1.0 part oil. The ratio may change based on the requirement of the customer.The preparation is excellent for spraying on wafer cones before filling ice cream. This product can also be used as an Éclair centre.  
• Lotus ICC Milk Concentrate This concentrate form of plain ice cream coating is very rich in chocolate flavour and is dark in colour. It may be diluted with refined coconut oil or refined palm kernel oil in the ratio of 1.25 - 1.5 part ICC-Concentrate plain to1.0 part oil. The ratio may change based on the requirement of the customer.The preparation is excellent for spraying on wafer cones before filling ice cream. This product can also be used as an Éclair centre. 
• Lotus Cocoa Paste A specialty product developed for chocolate ice cream preparation. This product has a uniform rich chocolate taste and is dark brown in colour without any brown specs, which is a common phenomenon when cocoa powder is mixed with ice cream. This product can be used at a ratio of 5-8% to ice cream mix, based on chocolate taste requirement. 
• Lotus Milkee Eclair Center A specialty product developed for Éclair center application. This product has a rich milk vanilla flavour.