The Tetley Group Ltd (TTGL) is mulling organic and inorganic growth in the US market. 

R K Krishna Kumar, chairman of TTGL, said, on the sidelines of Tata Tea’s annual general meeting here that the US was a major opportunity and the company was open to acquisitions in the market. 

Krishna Kumar however, declined to comment whether the company was looking at acquiring a brand or company. 

Addressing a press conference, Ken Pringle, director Tetley explained that Tetley was present in the US through black tea and a weaker iced tea but was not present in the ready-to-drink (RTD) and herb-spice segments, which dominated 50 per cent of the US market in value terms. 

Hence, the company was examining opportunities in the RTD and herb-spice segments. In fact, Tetley was already test marketing RTD in Canada, US and France. Peter Unsworth, director TTGL said, “There were bigger opportunities in the RTD segment and we would continue to look for options.” 

During the year, TTGL restructured its operations in the US by selling its private label business, outsourcing its entire manufacturing operations to a joint venture company and formed another joint venture to retain a presence in the food sector. 

Meanwhile, Tetley had already entered the Pakistan and Bangladesh markets and would also venture into the Russian market, in a major way. While in Pakistan the presence was in the form of a joint venture through Laskon, in Bangladesh, the partnership was with ACI Limited. 

Unsworth said, in Russia Tetley already had a presence and would look at enhancing it further. 

Tetley was looking at garnering a 5-7 per cent market share in the new markets over a two-year timeframe. In Bangladesh, the brand had already cornered a four per cent market share. 

Krishna Kumar said, in the domestic market the company was planning to enter the RTD segment through Tetley, which would targeted at the upper-end segment. 

At the lower-end Tata Tea was planning to launch a few brands. The company already has Agni in the economy segment. The company was eyeing a 22-23 per cent market share in the domestic market in two years’ time. Tata Tea’s market share at present was at 19.6 per cent.