JFS acquires Snoways

BANGALORE: Jyothy Fabricare Services(JFS), a 75% owned arm of Jyothy Laboratories has acquired Snoways, a Bangalore-based laundry player making its foray into the laundry business.

The cost of acquisition was not disclosed. Snoways is the second largest organised player in the Bangalore laundry market with a topline estimated to be around Rs 4 crore to Rs 5 crore.

The biggest player continues to be Band-Box with a topline of around Rs 10 crore with a network of nearly a dozen 'pick-up and drop' stores where customers deposit their soiled clothes for wash.

"The laundry business is estimated to be around Rs 6,000 crore but is largely unorganised and we believe that our company which has presence in the fabric care business can position itself as a national player," said Mr Ullas Kamath, deputy MD of Jyothy Laboratories.

"JFS should contribute around Rs 10-15 crore in terms of topline during the nine-month period ending March 2010. The Bangalore market is huge as there are two million households with some of the leading IT companies like IBM and Infosys itself having over one lakh households," he said.

With revenues of over Rs 500 crore, Jyothy Laboratories is best known for FMCG products such as Ujala-a fabric whitener.