| Kippreport.com

Looking at Landmark

October 11, 2010 3:02 by Eva Fernandes

But while the group sets their eyes on global expansion, they are still cautious. Chairman Micky Jagtiani is quoted by the National as saying, “We had a figure of around two to three acquisitions a year. We don’t want to take too many small companies and can’t afford to take large companies because we’re not that big.”

Cautious though they may be, the Landmark portfolio is rapidly diversifying. As CEO of the Hospitality Division of Landmark Group Fitness and Hotels, Praveen Bhatnagar told Gulf News, “Hospitality and leisure services were a new vertical which was started a couple of years ago. We are looking to focus on that new stream.”

In fact, this year saw Landmark Group foray into the leisure markets with the opening of Citymax budget hotels and their acquisition of British food chain Carluccio’s Italian restaurant. The group successfully acquired the restaurant chain with a bid of £90.3m (Dh529.5m) last month.

Landmark’s edge:

At a time when retail markets are at a significant low, the growth of Landmark’s mid-budget retail branches is impressive. Aside from opening a new mall on Sheikh Zayed Road, the group recently launched departmental store Iconic which spreads over two floors of Deira City Centre. The success of the group during these particularly trying times can be credited to not only shrewd business sense and wise investments but also to their efforts at establishing and redefining mid-budget retail in the region through their constant improvements to brands like Splash, Babyshop and Max.

In fact, in July this year, the group was presented the status of Superbrand by The UAE Superbrands Council for six of their local brands including Babyshop, Shoe Mart, Splash, Lifestyle, Home Centre and Ecco.

Pages: 1 2

Tags: acquisitions, Alhokair Group, Baby shop, Carluccio’s, Centrepoint, Chairman Micky Jagtiani, Citymax budget, Deira City Centre, Fitness First, Iconic, landmark, Landmark expansion plans, Landmark Group, lifestyle, Max, most acquisitive Middle Eastern country, Oasis Centre, Splash, Superbrands, Thomas Reuters, UAE Superbrands Council