Delmege Distributors FMCG biz grows by 64%; rewards top performers

Delmege Distributors (Pvt) Ltd. (DDPL), together with Delmege Marketing (Pvt) Ltd., held their annual Sales Awards at a glittering ceremony recently.

Top performers for each of the Delmege Group’s key brands, together with the top achievers of each region were recognised, while the highlight of the evening was the awarding of the Chairman’s Trophy to the most outstanding Sales Representative of the year.

“The financial year 2009/2010 was a year during which the world was still battling the global economic meltdown.  Whilst Sri Lanka was not badly affected, we did experience some of the negatives of this crisis.  However, the FMCG businesses of the Delmege Group, namely, Delmege Distributors and Delmege Marketing were able to withstand the crisis with minimal impact.   The Group’s overall FMCG business grew by 64 % in comparison to the year 2008/2009 with the addition of the Milgro brand Milk powder, while the Company performed well in its core product categories as well” said CEO, DDPL, Dinesh Nalliah.

Motha, one of the Company’s flagship brands grew at a healthy rate compared with that of the corresponding financial year. “The brand held on to its dominant leadership position. This is a historic year for the Motha business.  Whilst Motha as a brand celebrates its 50th year, the partnership between Motha and Delmege celebrates its 25th year and a series of initiatives have been planned to celebrate both these historic events” said Nalliah. “The Company’s other flagship brand ‘Delmege’ Canned Fish too grew at a healthy rate over the last financial year thus, improving on our market position”.

In other core categories too such as Soya and Tea, DDPL was able to take certain strategic distribution initiatives to increase product placement in the general trade channel. During the year under review, DDPL added the prestigious Australian brand Santarium to their product portfolio.  Santarium is and has been Australia’s No. 1 breakfast cereal for the last 30 years and DDPL is confident that here too the brand will have wide acceptance.

Nalliah said that the year 2010/2011 got off to an excellent start and given the positive economic environment, he was confident of achieving the aggressive business objectives that have been set.  “During the current financial year we have added two very prestigious international brands to our portfolio, namely, that of Ferrero and Arnott’s both of which are well established multinationals in the confectionery sector”.

Delmege Forsyth & Co’s Managing Director, Kosala Dissanayake, addressing the gathering said that the Company had made enormous strides during the past year and had in fact achieved significant market share in each of its core categories. “Opportunities will not wait for us. If we are not first and are not ready to seize the opportunities that are there, our competitors will do so”.

This year’s Chairman’s Trophy was won by R.M.P. Ratnayake of the Nuwara Eliya sales territory while the 1st Runner-up was R.G.R. Sanjeewa Rajapaksa from Anuradhapura and the 2nd Runner-up was M.P.D. Madura Pium of Gampaha. The Brand Award Winners were Motha - Haresh Wijewardhana, Delmege Canned Fish - Kokum Gunasekera, Supirisoy - Mahesh Kumara, Delmege Tea - Madura Pium, Delmege Essences & Colouring - Sri Skandaraja and Milgro - A.N. Samantha.

While the Best Team came from the Uva Region, the Regional Champions were from Greater Colombo - Primal Sanjeewa Fernando, Inner Colombo - M.P.D. Madura Pium, Outer Colombo - P.L.C. Senarath Gunasinghe, Colombo Central -  H.M. Sisira Herath, Sabaragamuwa -  R. Ramakrishnan, Uva  -  R.M.P. Ratnayake, North Central - R.G.R. Sanjeewa Rajapaksa and the South was won by M.P.S. Janaka

“Whilst I congratulate the winners, to all the others who ran the race, I would say, keep up the good work and try harder so that you too may be a winner next year, said F.G.N. Mendis, Chairman Delmege Group.