Beeyu Overseas executive chairman B.P. Singh (right) with director-finance F.J. Kapadia in Calcutta on Friday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, June 10: Beeyu Overseas Ltd has reported a lower net profit at Rs 11 lakh for fiscal 2005-06 against Rs 75.55 lakh in the previous year. Turnover stood at Rs 23.22 crore compared with Rs 36.92 crore in 2004-05.

Fourth-quarter revenues also dropped from Rs 10.07 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 5.94 crore.

?We expect this fiscal to bring in glad tidings with the average prices for north Indian tea up Rs 15 per kg and the south Indian variety dearer by Rs 10 per kg. It appears that there will be a 9 per cent global shortfall of CTC tea, while the consumption in developing countries is growing by 3 per cent per annum,? said B.P. Singh, executive chairman, Beeyu Overseas Ltd.

The company has invested Rs 15.5 crore in the expansion of the Ooty factory and plans to spend Rs 5.5 crore on the newly-acquired Neelkanth Tea Co?s factory in Siliguri.

The capacity at the Ooty factory was spruced up from 2,000 tonnes to 7,500 tonnes and the company expects to round up this fiscal with a production of 6,000 tonnes.

The new factory at Siliguri, to be completed by June, will produce 2,200 tonnes and the production is expected to go up to 3,000 tonnes next year.

Buoyed by the capacity expansion, Beeyu is targeting a turnover of Rs 50 crore this fiscal.

?Our factory in Ooty was showcased to the delegation from Pakistan. Following this, we are getting orders worth 300-400 tonnes per month from Pakistan, which we cannot supply,? Singh said.

Beeyu is sending its representative as part of the Indian tea delegation to Pakistan on June 14.

Beeyu is upbeat over Alliance Coffee Ltd, its joint venture with Tata Coffee. Tata Coffee holds a 51 per cent stake and Beeyu 49 per cent in the venture.

Alliance Coffee has been set up to sell Tata Coffee in overseas markets and Beeyu is expecting a turnover of Rs 100 crore this fiscal from this business. The company?s turnover from the coffee segment dropped to Rs 10.32 crore in 2005-06 from Rs 22.03 crore in the previous fiscal.

Tata Coffee will boost sales by introducing new varieties like freeze-dried coffee. This variety will be made at a new plant from November at an investment of Rs 100 crore. The other variety is agglomerated coffee for which machinery has been imported from England.