Puretrop Fruits Ltd - Stock Valuation and Financial Performance

Freshtrop Fruits company was incorporated as a private limited company on  September 30, 1992. It was converted into a public limited company on September 22, 1994. The company is promoted by Ashok V. Motiani, en Engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. Motiani had initially setup the packaging business of the Motiani Group, which has its manufacturing facilities at Ahmedabad.

Freshtrop Fruits is engaged in the business of exports of fresh fruits and vegetables to leading supermarket chains in various parts of Europe. The company is dealing in fresh fruits like grapes, pomegranates and mangoes. In 1993 Freshtrop set up its first post-harvest handling facility at Nashik, in the state of Maharashtra, 200 km. from Mumbai, with a capacity to pack and pre-cool 20 MT of fresh produce a day. In 2002 Freshtrop setup its second state-of-the-art, completely air conditioned, post-harvest handling facility at Sangli in Maharashtra with a similar capacity.

In 2003 Freshtrop added mechanized packing system for packing grapes in consumer packs known as punnets. Again in 2004 balancing equipments were installed to improve utilization of existing assets and new systems were set up to ensure 100% traceability. In 2005 Freshtrop setup its third most modern post harvest handling facility at Satara in Maharashtra. All 3 facilities now have an individual installed capacity to pack and pre-cool more than 20 tons of fresh fruits per day and can store around 150 MT of this product in palletized form in its cold stores.

Freshtrop has been a consistent and dependable supplier of good quality fresh produce to the most demanding supermarkets of Western Europe. Freshtrop works with over 1,000 growers spread across three states Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in southern India. The main objective of the company is to serve their customers at a level that meets or exceeds their expectations. They operate their business in a manner that their customers would like, based on their needs and desires with respect to providing safe products of premium quality in commercially adequate quantities.

Product range of the company includes:

1. Grapes

• Thompson Seedless This is the most well known and accepted variety of table grapes in the world. Light green colour, oblong berries and sweet juicy flavors. This cultivar can be prepared and harvested for customers preferring a light green to yellow or amber color. This variety is available from January to April.
• Flame Seedless Flame Seedless has an exceptional taste with small and round berries that have an attractive red colour. It is a very popular variety.This variety is available in February up to the first week of April.
• Sharad seedless Sharad seedless is sweet with a crisp taste. Berries are medium sized, oval and purple-black in colour. This is an early variety and is available from December to February.

2. Mango

• Alphonso (Happus )Alphonso mango is known as the King of fruits in India. It is grown mainly in the states of Gujarat & Maharashtra. The fruit is medium in size, ovate - oblique in shape, orange yellow in colour; juice is moderate-abundant; excellent keeping quality, good for pulping and canning; mainly exported as fresh fruit to other countries; flesh develops spongy tissue. This variety is available in the months of February, March & April. 
•  Kesar This is the main variety of the state of Gujarat. The fruit is medium oblong with a red blush on the shoulders; good keeping quality; ideal for pulping and juice concentrates. This variety is available in the months of May & June. 
• Banganapalli (Baneshan, Safeda) The fruit is large sized. It is grown in the state of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. This variety is suited for dry areas. It is obliquely oval in shape, golden yellow in colour; good keeping quality; good for canning; biennial in habit This variety is available in the months of April & May. 
• Dashehari This variety is grown in the Northern part of India in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. It is one of the best varieties of the country; fruit size is small - medium, shape is elongated with yellow fruit colour, flesh is fibreless; good keeping quality; mainly used for table purpose.This variety is available in the months of June, July & August.
• Chausa  It is the most popular late season variety. The fruit is medium oblong and has a golden yellow colour with a red blush. This variety is also grown in Northern parts of India and is available in July & August.

3.Pomegranates An impressive apple-shaped fruit with hard golden-red skin and a large calyx resembling a royal crown – pomegranate is a fruit with mystical past and an amazing future! It has already gained the reputation of a super-fruit with amazing anti-oxidant properties.

Achievements/ recognition:

• Freshtrop became one of the first Indian grape exporters to get 3 of its growers certified to the international EurepGAP standard on a pilot basis in 2003.
• Freshtrop’s Nasik unit became the first Indian post-harvest facility to get certified to this standard in 2005.
• The Apeda Export award for outstanding contribution to promotion of Agricultural and processed food products for the period 1994-1995.
• Freshtrop Fruits Ltd., a leading grape exporter from Nashik is the only company having automatic punnet packing lines in their Packhouse.