NATIONAL 5 (Spotlight Weekly)]

Continuous Growth

The joint venture company registers spectacular growth in its — year

By A CORRESPONDENT

An innocent, bright face of a young girl in her teens, Monica Chand, was literally able to steal hearts of many. So did the product "Fair & Lovely- Made in Nepal" manufactured and marketed by Nepal Lever Ltd. (NLL), a leading Indo-Nepal joint venture. "The "Fair & Lovely- Made in Nepal" has been a major success story in Nepal with the wholehearted acceptance of a truly international quality product by the Nepali consumers," said, Sandip Ghosh, managing director at NLL.

The company announced a 50 percent dividend to its shareholders recently. The company said its earnings per share have reached Rs 131 and Return on Net Worth stood at 37.1 percent. The company registered a profit of Rs.120.6 million (after tax) last year.†According to the Company, it had a turnover of Rs.1.72 billion during the year ending mid-July 2000. The company exported its products worth Rs 1.15 billion to India while sales in Nepal reached Rs.581 million, up 30 percent compared to the previous year. The company is to pay Rs.24.2 million as corporate tax to the government.

Nepal Lever's exports grew by 8.5 percent, which included Rs 37.9 million worth of laundry soap and detergents manufactured by ancillary industries being promoted by the company. The company has also doubled its toothpaste manufacturing capacity and dedicated two ancillary units for producing detergents and packing tea. "Part of the success is due to our ability to build up a network of over 70 stockists and distributors to serve over 15,000 retail outlets," said Ghose.

The company introduced new brands like Lifebuoy, Pepsodent Advanced Germicheck last year and also entered into two new categoriesóShampoos (Clinic Plus and Sunsilk) and Tea (Brooke-Bond Red Label). During the year, the Company also invested in doubling its toothpaste capacity at its manufacturing plant in Hetauda.

"To grow the domestic business the company would continue to focus on consumer-relevant innovation, market development and distribution," said Gurdeep Singh, co-chairman of the company. "Nepal Lever is here for the long-haul. We are committed to playing a meaningful role in the economic development of the country."

Co-chairman of Hindustan Lever Ltd, that owns majority stakes in NLL, M K Sharma said law and order situation was a prerequisite for attracting any foreign investment into the country. There had been attempts to cause explosions at its manufacturing plant in Hetauda. "We are satisfied with the governmentís response," he added.

(One Column?)

HBC 94 fm

Culture Of Peace

Dubbed as Peace Network, a private F. M. channel aims at propagating rich oriental culture

Here is a new radio station promoting the theme "Sacred Valley, Shakti Radio." This is HBC 94 fm (Himalayan Broadcasting Company) started its test transmission on October 9 last year and official transmission on April 21 this year. Equipped with three studios with most advanced facilities, the radio station is the first one in Nepal to broadcast live through the Internet ( HYPERLINK http://www.hbc.com.np www.hbc.com.np) all over the world with international music and songs. The website also offers web magazine based on the latest Flash technology with the support of World Link Communications, Jawalakhel. "Through our website we plan to attract a lot of tourists to Nepal in the coming years with a mixture of sights and sounds from Nepal," said Bibhuti Shrestha, InfoTech manager at the HBC.

The station has other ambitious goals too. "We are planning to extend our transmission throughout the kingdom on 94 Mhz of Frequency Modulation," said Shambhu Ghimire, station manager of HBC. Added Hari Sharan Lamichhane, Production Manager at the HBC, "This FM is a bridge of sound across time and space to promote international friendship and understanding." After nearly one year of regular musical broadcast, the station has recently introduced the first phase of its programs.

The 20-hour-long transmission starts early in the morning (4:00 a. m.) airing the programs related to meditation, devotion, spirituality and health awareness. As the sun goes up, there are news and informative programs with continuous stream of world of music. Time to enjoy.