Mumbai: The board of Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd (GHCL), the $700 million Sanjay Dalmia-promoted firm, has approved the demerger of its soda ash, retail and home textile businesses.

The company expects to complete the restructuring in this quarter itself. It will list the businesses separately.

GHCL is also in the final stages of launching its exclusive range of home textiles retail chain stores under the Rosebys brand. The company plans to roll out 300 stores in its first year of operations. It is also considering a re-branding exercise, which is scheduled to be launched this year.

The company is analysing two acquisitions in the soda ash business in US and China.
Sanjay Dalmiya, chairman, GHCL, told DNA Money, “The listing of verticals will take place in phases in the next few years. It’s difficult to give a proper time of listing.”

DNA Money had first reported about GHCL’s demerger plans and its bringing UK-based home textile retailer Rosebys’ brands into the country.

Analyst Daljeet S Kohli of Emkay Research said in a recent note to clients that once the demerger happens and some unlocking gains come, there will be extra gains for investors.

The company plans to shift the business of Rosebys UK to the home textiles retail entity in India.
Meanwhile, GHCL is expanding soda-ash capacity by another 250,000 tonnes per annum (TPA).

The expansion is likely to be completed in FY10. The dense soda ash produced has good demand from glass manufacturers and in the automobile & construction segments.

GHCL is promoted jointly by Gujarat Industrial Investment (GIIC) and the Sanjay Dalmia group. It manufactures and distributes soda ash and textiles in India and exports to various countries across the world.

Meanwhile, GHCL’s income from operations for the quarter rose 39% to Rs 325.53 crore as against Rs 234.35 crore a year ago. EBIDTA rose 5% to Rs 66.23 crore. Net profit for the quarter gained 4% to Rs 32.17 crore.

Source : Dna