MIRA
INFORM REPORT
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Report Date : |
06.08.2011 |
IDENTIFICATION DETAILS
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Name : |
COMMUNITY FOODS LTD. |
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Registered Office : |
112 Brent Terrace Tilling Rd London, NW2 1LT |
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Country : |
United Kingdom |
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Financials (as on) : |
26.03.2011 |
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Date of Incorporation : |
01.09.1977 |
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Com. Reg. No.: |
01328083 |
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Legal Form : |
Private Subsidiary |
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Line of Business : |
Non-specialised wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco |
RATING & COMMENTS
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MIRA’s Rating : |
Ba |
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RATING |
STATUS |
PROPOSED CREDIT LINE |
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41-55 |
Ba |
Overall operation is considered normal. Capable to meet normal
commitments. |
Satisfactory |
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Status : |
Satisfactory |
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Payment Behaviour : |
No Complaints |
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Litigation : |
-- |
NOTES :
Any query related to this report can be made on
e-mail: infodept@mirainform.com
while quoting report number, name and date.
ECGC Country Risk Classification List – March 31st, 2011
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Country Name |
Previous Rating (31.12.2010) |
Current Rating (31.03.2011) |
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United Kingdom |
A1 |
A1 |
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Risk Category |
ECGC
Classification |
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Insignificant |
A1 |
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Low |
A2 |
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Moderate |
B1 |
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High |
B2 |
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Very High |
C1 |
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Restricted |
C2 |
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Off-credit |
D |
company name and address
Community Foods Ltd.
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Business
Description
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Founded in 1971, Community Foods Ltd. is a provider of organic and
natural food products. The company offers products under the Crazy Jack,
Ethletic, Fair Deal Trading, Green Tips and Sanchi brands. It provides a
variety of whole grains, nuts, pulses, herbs and spices. The company operates
a warehouse to store several products. It offers product inspection and
customer support solutions. The company provides one-stop export services. It
also offers a range of products, such as rubber gloves, shoes and sports
balls. The company deals in the procurement, sale and distribution of dried
fruits and branded health food products. In addition, it offers buying tips. |
Industry
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Industry |
Food Processing |
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ANZSIC 2006: |
3609 - Other Grocery Wholesaling |
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NACE 2002: |
5139 - Non-specialised wholesale of food,
beverages and tobacco |
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NAICS 2002: |
424490 - Other Grocery and Related
Products Merchant Wholesalers |
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UK SIC 2003: |
5139 - Non-specialised wholesale of food,
beverages and tobacco |
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US SIC 1987: |
5149 - Groceries and Related Products, Not
Elsewhere Classified |
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Key Executives
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NEWS
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Financial Summary
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1 - Profit & Loss Item Exchange Rate: USD 1 = GBP 0.6440046
2 - Balance Sheet Item Exchange Rate: USD 1 = GBP 0.6216779
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Corporate Structure News:
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Total Corporate
Family Members: 6 |
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Company Name |
Company Type |
Location |
Country |
Industry |
Sales |
Employees |
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Parent |
London |
United Kingdom |
Food Processing |
103.2 |
156 |
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Subsidiary |
London |
United Kingdom |
Nonclassifiable Industries |
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87 |
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Subsidiary |
London |
United Kingdom |
Food Processing |
103.2 |
152 |
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Subsidiary |
London |
United Kingdom |
Personal Services |
12.1 |
63 |
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Subsidiary |
London |
United Kingdom |
Nonclassifiable Industries |
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Executives Report
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Directors and Shareholders Report
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Annual Return Date: 14 Dec 2010 |
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Individual Directors |
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Name |
Status |
DOB |
Filed Address |
Appointment Date |
Resignation Date |
Summary of Directorships |
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Current |
21 Dec 1969 |
Micross Brent Terrace, |
01 Jan 2010 |
NA |
Current:3 |
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Current |
06 Mar 1951 |
Park Farm, Crewe Green, |
28 Sep 2006 |
NA |
Current:5 |
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Current |
24 May 1952 |
Micross Brent Terrace, |
01 Jan 2010 |
NA |
Current:4 |
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Current |
09 Feb 1961 |
46 Bishops Avenue, |
01 Jan 2010 |
NA |
Current:5 |
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Current |
18 Nov 1957 |
Micross, Brent Terrace, |
01 Jun 2010 |
NA |
Current:1 |
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Current |
01 Sep 1951 |
Old Orchard House Dipley Road, Hartley
Witney, |
03 Oct 2007 |
NA |
Current:14 |
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Current |
20 Mar 1955 |
Woodside Cottage, Moor Green, |
05 Apr 1990 |
NA |
Current:6 |
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Current |
13 Aug 1952 |
Typicca, Dryslwyn, |
28 Sep 2006 |
NA |
Current:6 |
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Previous |
06 Dec 1955 |
39C St George's Road, |
14 Dec 1990 |
31 Dec 2009 |
Current:0 |
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Previous |
08 Jan 1957 |
31 Valley Avenue, Friern Park, |
NA |
25 Mar 1996 |
Current:0 |
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Previous |
29 Feb 1952 |
7 Sunset View, |
28 Nov 1995 |
31 Dec 2009 |
Current:0 |
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Previous |
12 Mar 1937 |
Steanbow Farm, Pilton, |
28 Sep 2006 |
03 Oct 2007 |
Current:2 |
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Previous |
09 Mar 1952 |
Flat 4 Highwood House, Highwood Hill, |
14 Dec 1990 |
25 Mar 1996 |
Current:0 |
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Previous |
23 Jan 1957 |
61 Hazelwood Drive, |
14 Dec 1990 |
20 Mar 1996 |
Current:0 |
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Previous |
28 Feb 1961 |
Greenbanks, Salisbury Road, |
28 Sep 2006 |
31 Mar 2009 |
Current:2 |
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Corporate Directors |
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There are no corporate directors for this
company. |
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Individual Secretaries |
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Name |
Status |
DOB |
Filed Address |
Appointment Date |
Resignation Date |
Summary of Directorships |
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Current |
20 Dec 1946 |
Micross, Brent Terrace, |
14 Sep 2009 |
NA |
Current:5 |
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Previous |
08 Jan 1957 |
31 Valley Avenue, Friern Park, |
NA |
25 Mar 1996 |
Current:0 |
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Previous |
NA |
Elm Court 4 Oakhurst Avenue, East Barnet, |
11 Jun 1996 |
14 Sep 2009 |
Current:0 |
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Corporate Secretaries |
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There are no corporate secretaries for
this company. |
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Individual Shareholders |
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There are no individual shareholders for
this company. |
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Corporate Shareholders |
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Company Name |
Registration Number |
Share Details |
Share Type |
# of Shares |
Share Price (GBP) |
Share Value (GBP) |
% of Total Shares |
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03028876 |
71000 Ordinary GBP 1.00 |
Ordinary |
71,000 |
1.00 |
71,000.00 |
100.00 |
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They're stocking
up for a healthier future
Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA): 14 April 2011
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
April 14--Tamis
Davis looked at what her father was eating toward the end of his life and
didn't like what she saw.
He'd bought some
bananas and yogurt, but the Type 2 diabetic was also subsisting on takeout,
junk food, cigarettes and alcohol.
His death at age
56 provided the catalyst for Davis and husband Matthew Davis' new venture,
Harvest Market, a health-food grocery that opened March 14 in Spotsylvania
Courthouse Village.
"It hit home,"
Davis said. "By 2050, one in three American children will be Type 2
diabetic. I have three children. The math isn't hard."
She and her
husband knew that the best way to ward off health problems in the future is to
eat healthfully now. And they realized there were few options in the
Spotsylvania Courthouse area for buying the kinds of local and organic food and
other products that they wanted.
So last year the
Davises began drawing on their past experience working for Hermitage Homes, a
local builder, to get their new business up and running. He'd been the site
foreman and she was the bookkeeper until they lost their jobs during the
recession. They've also gotten help from the Rappahannock Area Small Business
Development Center in Stafford County.
Today their
compact but fully stocked grocery at 7610 Heths Salient Street, Suite 112,
specializes in locally grown and organic meats, eggs and produce, including
pork from Papa Weaver's in Orange County and Pink House Pigs in Mineral, tofu
and mushroom pate from Twin Oaks Community Foods in Louisa, Prairie Grain Bread
from Midlothian and Blackstone Coffees from Spotsylvania.
They even carry
frozen meals for children, such as spaghetti and meatballs from Mom Made, an
Alexandria company.
"We're making
it as local as possible," said Tamis Davis. "We'd rather it come from
Virginia than China or even California."
Not only does that
help the local economy, local produce retains more of its vitamins and minerals
and it doesn't have to be shipped as far, Matthew Davis added.
Harvest Market
also has sections for vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free items, organic pet
food, environmentally friendly cleaning products, homeopathic remedies,
vitamins and skin-care products such as sunscreen.
So far, the couple
said, they've had a good response from customers. They drummed up some initial
interest by taking part as a vendor in the Sustainable Family Dinner Table
program held April 2 at Beaverdam Baptist Church, and do daily in-store
tastings to introduce customers to various products.
"People were
saying things like, 'Wow, this is kind of like a Trader Joe's,'" said
Matthew Davis.
Harvest Market has
grinders so customers can make their own fresh peanut and almond butters in the
store, and eventually plans to add another to mill wheat berries into flour,
which has a shorter shelf life than wheat berries, or seeds.
The Davises also
are looking for a local supplier for bulk honey, and want to offer classes on
vegetarian and gluten-free cooking. And they plan to add to-go lunches, which
they think will be popular with county staff working in the building next door.
"As soon as
we do, we'll send out fliers," Tamis Davis said.
Cathy Jett:
540/374-5407
Email:
cjett@freelancestar.com
My Own Boss is an
occasional series about local entrepreneurs.
To see more of The
Free Lance-Star or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://fredericksburg.com/flshome.
Copyright (c)
2011, The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va.
Distributed by
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For more
information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information
Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail
services@mctinfoservices.com, or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States,
call +1 312-222-4544)
Free cookery
lessons
Frome & Somerset Standard: 17 February 2011
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
A series of five
free Friday morning sessions covering the basics of cooking healthy meals to
fit a household budget starts on March 4.
Based at the Key
Centre in Frome, the course is run by Somerset Community Foods and supported by
NHS Somerset.
Tutor Stina Harris
will teach how to make soups, children's favourites, quick alternatives to
takeaway meals and easy home baking.
To book a place
visit the Key Centre, call Ms Harris on 01373 462263 or email
destina@phonecoop.coop.
FROM KNIVES AND
RIOTS TO A RICH SEAM OF COMMUNITY SPIRIT
Thriving food projects have helped change the Broadwater Farm estate beyond
recognition from its troubled past, says Rosie Boycott
Evening Standard (London, UK): 04 November 2010
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
IT'S 20 years
since the Broadwater Farm riots in Tottenham but the name still conjures up
images of a rough estate where you wouldn't want to be out late at night. The
high-rise blocks don't even offer the relief of a balcony to break the
forbidding walls. But keep driving and, on the far corner, you arrive at the
Lordship Park Community Centre, a pale redbrick building, on the edge of the
45-hectare park. Inside, things are buzzing.
It's Friday and
there's a vegetable stall selling fresh produce from farms in Norfolk and Kent,
both of which deliver to the centre early morning. The prices are incredibly
low. Jane Silverman and Ruth Green, local residents who run the stall, only add
on 10 per cent to the purchase cost, making a lovely-looking cauliflower just
�1.14 and a kilo of still-wet-fromthe-fields spinach just �1.10. They don't
just sell fruit and veg. Further down the trestle tables are dry goods bought
from Community Foods in south London: organic lentils, five varieties of rice,
pulses, oats, barley, dried fruit, nuts, all bagged into halfkilos.
Again, they just
add 10 per cent, making a bag of bulgar wheat �1.15 a kilo, organic brown
rice �1.04 and le puy lentils �1.35.
"Anyone can
do it," Jane says. "You just need a community to sell to. We buy in
orders of up to �200. It's plenty."
Anything left over
goes to the kitchen, where it is transformed into the Friday lunch. This is
another community project. Every Friday, different nationalities cook one
course. The day I'm there it is the turn of a Portuguese cook, next week it
might be Turkish, Russian or Malaysian. In come a group of women who have been
on the Natural Health Walk, also organised by volunteers to encourage estate
and local residents to get out and walk.
Outside in the
garden, volunteers are working on the raised vegetable beds. It is a Capital
Growth site, funded from other sources. The workers come from GP referrals and
the local psychiatric hospital, St Anne's, as gardening is proven to be one of
the best therapies for troubled minds. Beyond the fence is the park: people are
walking, kicking footballs, looking for conkers and pushing prams. It wasn't
always like this.
"The funding
cuts to parks in the Eighties and Nineties reduced the number of park staff in
Haringey from 300 to just 60," explains Dave Morris, who runs the local
Friends Group and chairs its user forum. "This place was a nightmare 10
years ago: dog mess, broken fences, long grass, rubbish, weeds."
Working with local
councillor Paul Ely, they decided to try and put it right. "After the
riots, the residents of the estate had made an amazing effort to change things.
They planted some trees and created a few grassy spaces: before, it was
concrete everywhere. They lobbied to build this community centre and put proper
locks on the doors. But over the years, things started to slow up. When we took
over, not much was happening."
Paul and Dave were
joined by Martin Burrows, founder of local charity Back to Earth, responsible
for all the food projects on the estate. They wanted to create a vibrant
community, with the centre at its heart but with plenty of activities. Trax,
the Saturday bike club, has 100 members. Then there's the Friday meal, which
they hope to extend across the week, the walks, the sewing club and the
horticultural displays. There's also a football team, an annual dog show, a
peace picnic, a mother-and-toddler club, tai chi and sports training for 11- to
19-year-olds.
Paul, Dave and
Martin wanted to create the space in which these things could happen, then let
others take over their management. It would be a disaster if this good work was
undone by funding cuts. It's taken 25 years to get this far from the day PC
Blakelock was stabbed to death yards from where a group of people are enjoying
a healthy lunch.
New Hope for
Afghan Raisin Farmers
New York Times: 09 October 2010
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
KABUL -- Raisin
Producer Cooperative Center No. 2 stands alone astride the highway in Parwan
Province, an hour north of Kabul. Inside the clay-colored building with a
cheery yellow gate, a group of Afghan raisin farmers sits cross-legged on the
tan carpet, talking about the past -- and the future.
''Before the wars,
we were exporting our raisins to the U.K., to the Soviet Union, to India,''
said Haji Hamidullah, who was chosen by his fellow farmers to serve as
president of the Parwan cooperative. ''It's our hope that we will again find
good markets for our products on the international market.''
Next month,
raisins grown in Parwan will once again land on shelves in Britain, selling in
health food and fine food retailers under the Tropical Wholefoods brand thanks
to an unusual alliance among Afghan farmers; Mercy Corps, an international aid
organization based in Portland, Oregon; and Fullwell Mill, a British food
producer.
The venture is
part of an effort to bring the practices and profits of the so-called
fair-trade movement to Afghanistan, a country known more for conflicts than
cooperatives. Along the way, participants also hope to build more stable and
more prosperous Afghan communities by building and improving on an indigenous
business that in years past was a source of local pride.
In the decades
before war decimated Afghanistan's infrastructure and its land, the country
produced 10 percent of the world's raisins. According to U.S. Department of
Agriculture statistics, the country's raisin production peaked at 86,000 metric
tons in 1981 before plunging to less than a quarter of that figure by the end
of the 1980s.
Since 2001,
Afghanistan has slowly climbed back into the global marketplace, with
production hovering at 25,000 to 30,000 metric tons annually for the past
several years. Official figures show the country exporting more than 80 percent
of its dried grapes, but the sweet, seedless Afghan raisins are an easy-to-find
snack in local markets and a staple of Afghan rice dishes. The country is now
home to 3 percent of the world's raisin production, with the biggest producers
-- the United States, Turkey, China and Iran -- now accounting for roughly
three-quarters of the one million metric tons of the raisin market.
With competition
stiff and Afghanistan still struggling to recover from the destruction of war,
farmers like Mr. Hamidullah have struggled to sell their goods any farther away
than Pakistan, leaving them at the mercy of local markets -- and local prices.
So Mercy Corps, together with Fullwell Mill, set out to change that.
''We went to the
farmers and we asked them, 'Do you want to export your raisins? If so, and if
you try your best, we can find a good market for you,''' said Aman Taheri,
program coordinator at the Kabul office of Mercy Corps. ''We told them our
strategy was to increase their knowledge and their sales and to help give them
linkages: the farmer to the trader to the buyer to the processor.''
The effort, which
includes two months of technical training each year for the 300 Parwan farmers
in the program, is part of a three-year, $2 millionMercy Corps program started
in June 2008 with financing from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Along with Parwan, the Mercy Corps program operates in Kandahar Province, which
is far less secure. The goal of the project, the Global Development Alliance,
is to increase training, jobs and sales for Afghan participants along the grape
and pomegranate production value chain. (Pomegranates have been harder to link
to global markets, given security constraints in the south, where they grow in
abundance, but Mercy Corps has had some success this year in helping farmers to
earn more from the lucrative fruit.)
The grape-growing
season lasts about six months, from spring through early autumn, with raisin
drying in the Parwan region requiring four to five additional weeks. How many
grapes each hectare of land yields depends to a great extent on the weather:
Last year, the Parwan cooperative had a bumper crop of more than a thousand
metric tons. This year, given the heavy rains, that figure could drop below
400.
Although billions
of dollars have been spent on development programs in Afghanistan since 2002,
few have had such a direct link to international markets. And judging from the
challenges Mercy Corps and Fullwell Mill have faced since starting the program
in Parwan, it is not difficult to see why the program is such a rarity.
Mercy Corps first
reached out to Fullwell Mill in 2006 to study the possibility of producing
organic raisins in Kandahar. The two organizations decided to collaborate several
years later after agreeing that together they could overcome the myriad
obstacles necessary to turn the far-fetched idea of Parwan fair-trade raisins
into reality.
The first issue
Fullwell Mill faced was persuading the Fairtrade Labeling Organizations
International, or FLO, and its certifying body, FLO-CERT, to consider allowing
raisins grown in Parwan to carry the Fairtrade label, a logo that signifies to
consumers that growers have received a fair price and that a portion of their
profits will be used to further economic development.
As part of the
labeling process, FLO-CERT auditors visit producers to verify that they meet
the group's stringent environmental, labor and organizational standards. In the
case of the Parwan raisin cooperative, however, FLO had no ability to verify
facts on the ground and did not want to risk the danger of sending its staff to
Afghanistan, no matter how secure Parwan itself might be.
After months of
talks with Fullwell Mill, a solution was found in which Mercy Corps provided
FLO-CERT with pages of documents regarding the cooperative's ability to meet
Fairtrade requirements. For now, the Parwan raisins will be available only in
Britain, the largest global Fairtrade market, though the process may serve as a
pilot for bringing Fairtrade to other conflict areas.
From the view of
the fair-trade representatives, the decision to allow the Parwan raisins
project to proceed under their label presented formidable business risks.
''We would all
recognize that actually these are the sorts of groups we want to be working
with,'' said Chris Davis, who manages producer partnerships at the Fairtrade
Foundation. ''The debate was around whether, by coming up with a new way of
working with this group, could that, if anything goes wrong, potentially bring
the fair-trade movement into disrepute? Do we run the risk of undermining the
benefits that we can provide to other farmers and workers around the world?''
In the end, the
foundation decided that by being open with consumers about the unusual certification
process, it could indeed give the raisins the Fairtrade seal.
Then there was the
challenge of getting farmers to embrace new farming techniques and standards so
that their products could be competitive overseas. And convincing them that if
they did so, they could indeed trust the foreigners who promised to come back
at harvest time to buy their products.
''We are trying to
put a bit of institution in there so that from this very cowboy Wild West, we
get a situation where there are rights and responsibilities within the supply
chain,'' said Richard Friend, co-founder of Fullwell Mill, which also works
with almond growers in northwestern Pakistan to supply almonds to Ben &
Jerry's, the ice cream maker. ''The farmers are guaranteed a whole series of
things like reasonable quotas of what we are willing to buy from them, and they
know in advance there are guaranteed prices and a guaranteed premium on
Fairtrade certified product. Concomitantly, there are a series of things they
have to give.''
Those things
include being trained in and adopting certain modern techniques, like mat-based
drying of the grapes. Traditionally, the farmers had let their grapes dry on
the ground and then sold them to the first bidder so that they would not be
left with perishable products on their hands. Mr. Taheri, the Mercy Corps
program coordinator, and his colleagues told farmers that they simply had to
dry their grapes on the new mats made of river reeds because they produced
cleaner and plumper raisins for the international market.
Fullwell Mill's
pledge to buy 7 kilograms, or about 15.5 pounds, of raisins for 350 afghanis,
or about $8, rather than the going market rate of 7 kilograms for 200 afghanis,
added a strong financial incentive.
For their part,
the farmers at the center of the program say that all the education has been a
boon to their production and to their families. Now that they know they can
trust the Fullwell Mill team to deliver on its promises, they hope that this is
just the beginning of the collaboration. From the 35 farmers who initially
agreed to try the new mats, more than 200 have signed on this year.
''We want to find
many more foreign markets -- this is our hope,'' Mr. Hamidullah said, proudly
showing visitors row upon row of his ripening grapes a few minutes after urging
his Mercy Corps trainers to extend the program past its current end date of May
2011. ''When we get such good benefits from our products, we can improve our
whole lives: our homes, our machinery, our education.''
And for Fullwell
Mill, the unusual partnership with Mercy Corps and the Parwan Raisin Producer
Association has translated into a strategic business opportunity for a niche
company operating in a field of far larger players. The first Afghan raisin
shipment of 35 metric tons arrived in late August after months of transit to
London. While the amount is only a tiny fraction of the 340,000 metric tons of
raisins imported last year by the 27 nations of the European Union, Fullwell
Mill sees the program as a robust start that promises great potential for
future expansion -- so long as British buyers are interested.
''I see
opportunity where a lot of other people see risks,'' said Adam Brett, Fullwell
Mill's director. ''Going into Afghanistan will give us a really exciting unique
product that the largest customers will be curious about and want to have,
which will give them an edge. If we are lucky, Afghanistan moves toward
stability and then it can become a real powerhouse for trade.''
Already, customers
like Community Foods, a British supplier of natural and organic dried food that
purchased Afghan dried fruits in the 1970s, have pledged to buy the Parwan
Fairtrade raisins this year and next.
''It is going to
be seen as a bonus that the raisins come from Afghanistan,'' said Paul Moore,
Community Foods' marketing director. ''I think the British public realize that
we are there because forces have been sent their by their government, and any
project that involves bringing people together will be viewed as positive. A
country like that, that has been at war for 30 years, if you can bring calm and
happiness to a few families' lives and that can grow, why wouldn't you want to
do that?''
PHOTOS: Afghan
farmers survey the drying of their raisin crop. Afghan raisins will begin
appearing on British store shelves next month. (B1); Raisins headed for market
in Afghanistan, which once produced 10 percent of the world's crop.
(PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOAO SILVA FOR THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE) (B5)
Seeds of hope in
Afghan raisins
Farmers, aid organization and U.K. food company unite on fair trade drive
International Herald Tribune: 08 October 2010
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
Raisin Producer
Cooperative Center No. 2 stands alone astride the highway in Parwan Province,
an hour north of Kabul. Inside the clay-colored building with a cheery yellow
gate, a group of Afghan raisin farmers sits cross-legged on the tan carpet,
talking about the past � and the future.
��Before the
wars, we were exporting our raisins to the U.K., to the Soviet Union, to
India,�� said Haji Hamidullah, who was chosen by his fellow farmers to
serve as president of the Parwan cooperative. ��It�s our hope that we
will again find good markets for our products on the international
market.��
Next month,
raisins grown in Parwan will once again land on shelves in Britain, selling in
health food and fine food retailers under the Tropical Wholefoods brand thanks
to an unusual alliance among Afghan farmers; Mercy Corps, an international aid
organization based in Portland, Oregon; and Fullwell Mill, a British food
producer.
The venture is
part of an effort to bring the practices and profits of the so-called
fair-trade movement to Afghanistan, a country known more for conflicts than
cooperatives. Along the way, participants also hope to build more stable and
more prosperous Afghan communities by building and improving on an indigenous
business that in years past was a source of local pride.
In the decades
before war decimated Afghanistan�s infrastructure and its land, the country
produced 10 percent of the world�s raisins. According to U.S. Department of
Agriculture statistics, the country�s raisin production peaked at 86,000
metric tons in 1981 before plunging to less than a quarter of that figure by
the end of the 1980s.
Since 2001,
Afghanistan has slowly climbed back into the global marketplace, with
production hovering at 25,000 to 30,000 metric tons annually for the past
several years. Official figures show the country exporting more than 80 percent
of its dried grapes, but the sweet, seedless Afghan raisins are an easy-to-find
snack in local markets and a staple of Afghan rice dishes. The country is now
home to 3 percent of the world�s raisin production, with the biggest
producers � the United States, Turkey, China and Iran � now accounting for
roughly three-quarters of the one million metric tons of the raisin market.
With competition
stiff and Afghanistan still struggling to recover from the destruction of war,
farmers like Mr. Hamidullah have struggled to sell their goods any farther away
than Pakistan, leaving them at the mercy of local markets � and local prices.
So Mercy Corps, together with Fullwell Mill, set out to change that.
��We went to
the farmers and we asked them, �Do you want to export your raisins? If so,
and if you try your best, we can find a good market for you,��� said Aman
Taheri, program coordinator at the Kabul office of Mercy Corps. ��We told
them our strategy was to increase their knowledge and their sales and to help
give them linkages: the farmer to the trader to the buyer to the
processor.��
The effort, which
includes two months of technical training each year for the 300 Parwan farmers
in the program, is part of a three-year, $2 millionMercy Corps program started
in June 2008 with financing from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Along with Parwan, the Mercy Corps program operates in Kandahar Province, which
is far less secure. The goal of the project, the Global Development Alliance,
is to increase training, jobs and sales for Afghan participants along the grape
and pomegranate production value chain. (Pomegranates have been harder to link
to global markets, given security constraints in the south, where they grow in
abundance, but Mercy Corps has had some success this year in helping farmers to
earn more from the lucrative fruit.)
The grape-growing
season lasts about six months, from spring through early autumn, with raisin
drying in the Parwan region requiring four to five additional weeks. How many
grapes each hectare of land yields depends to a great extent on the weather:
Last year, the Parwan cooperative had a bumper crop of more than a thousand
metric tons. This year, given the heavy rains, that figure could drop below
400.
Although billions
of dollars have been spent on development programs in Afghanistan since 2002,
few have had such a direct link to international markets. And judging from the
challenges Mercy Corps and Fullwell Mill have faced since starting the program
in Parwan, it is not difficult to see why the program is such a rarity.
Mercy Corps first
reached out to Fullwell Mill in 2006 to study the possibility of producing
organic raisins in Kandahar. The two organizations decided to collaborate
several years later after agreeing that together they could overcome the myriad
obstacles necessary to turn the far-fetched idea of Parwan fair-trade raisins
into reality.
The first issue
Fullwell Mill faced was persuading the Fairtrade Labeling Organizations
International, or FLO, and its certifying body, FLO-CERT, to consider allowing
raisins grown in Parwan to carry the Fairtrade label, a logo that signifies to
consumers that growers have received a fair price and that a portion of their
profits will be used to further economic development.
As part of the
labeling process, FLO-CERT auditors visit producers to verify that they meet
the group�s stringent environmental, labor and organizational standards. In
the case of the Parwan raisin cooperative, however, FLO had no ability to
verify facts on the ground and did not want to risk the danger of sending its
staff to Afghanistan, no matter how secure Parwan itself might be.
After months of
talks with Fullwell Mill, a solution was found in which Mercy Corps provided
FLO-CERT with pages of documents regarding the cooperative�s ability to meet
Fairtrade requirements. For now, the Parwan raisins will be available only in
Britain, the largest global Fairtrade market, though the process may serve as a
pilot for bringing Fairtrade to other conflict areas.
From the view of
the fair-trade representatives, the decision to allow the Parwan raisins
project to proceed under their label presented formidable business risks.
��We would all
recognize that actually these are the sorts of groups we want to be working
with,�� said Chris Davis, who manages producer partnerships at the
Fairtrade Foundation. ��The debate was around whether, by coming up with a
new way of working with this group, could that, if anything goes wrong,
potentially bring the fair-trade movement into disrepute? Do we run the risk of
undermining the benefits that we can provide to other farmers and workers
around the world?��
In the end, the
foundation decided that by being open with consumers about the unusual certification
process, it could indeed give the raisins the Fairtrade seal.
Then there was the
challenge of getting farmers to embrace new farming techniques and standards so
that their products could be competitive overseas. And convincing them that if
they did so, they could indeed trust the foreigners who promised to come back
at harvest time to buy their products.
��We are
trying to put a bit of institution in there so that from this very cowboy Wild
West, we get a situation where there are rights and responsibilities within the
supply chain,�� said Richard Friend, co-founder of Fullwell Mill, which
also works with almond growers in northwestern Pakistan to supply almonds to
Ben & Jerry�s, the ice cream maker. ��The farmers are guaranteed a whole
series of things like reasonable quotas of what we are willing to buy from
them, and they know in advance there are guaranteed prices and a guaranteed
premium on Fairtrade certified product. Concomitantly, there are a series of
things they have to give.��
Those things
include being trained in and adopting certain modern techniques, like mat-based
drying of the grapes. Traditionally, the farmers had let their grapes dry on
the ground and then sold them to the first bidder so that they would not be left
with perishable products on their hands. Mr. Taheri, the Mercy Corps program
coordinator, and his colleagues told farmers that they simply had to dry their
grapes on the new mats made of river reeds because they produced cleaner and
plumper raisins for the international market.
Fullwell Mill�s
pledge to buy 7 kilograms, or about 15.5 pounds, of raisins for 350 afghanis,
or about $8, rather than the going market rate of 7 kilograms for 200 afghanis,
added a strong financial incentive.
For their part, the
farmers at the center of the program say that all the education has been a boon
to their production and to their families. Now that they know they can trust
the Fullwell Mill team to deliver on its promises, they hope that this is just
the beginning of the collaboration. From the 35 farmers who initially agreed to
try the new mats, more than 200 have signed on this year.
��We want to
find many more foreign markets � this is our hope,�� Mr. Hamidullah said,
proudly showing visitors row upon row of his ripening grapes a few minutes
after urging his Mercy Corps trainers to extend the program past its current
end date of May 2011. ��When we get such good benefits from our products,
we can improve our whole lives: our homes, our machinery, our education.��
And for Fullwell
Mill, the unusual partnership with Mercy Corps and the Parwan Raisin Producer
Association has translated into a strategic business opportunity for a niche
company operating in a field of far larger players. The first Afghan raisin
shipment of 35 metric tons arrived in late August after months of transit to
London. While the amount is only a tiny fraction of the 340,000 metric tons of
raisins imported last year by the 27 nations of the European Union, Fullwell
Mill sees the program as a robust start that promises great potential for
future expansion � so long as British buyers are interested.
��I see
opportunity where a lot of other people see risks,�� said Adam Brett,
Fullwell Mill�s director. ��Going into Afghanistan will give us a really
exciting unique product that the largest customers will be curious about and
want to have, which will give them an edge. If we are lucky, Afghanistan moves
toward stability and then it can become a real powerhouse for trade.��
Already, customers
like Community Foods, a British supplier of natural and organic dried food that
purchased Afghan dried fruits in the 1970s, have pledged to buy the Parwan
Fairtrade raisins this year and next.
��It is going
to be seen as a bonus that the raisins come from Afghanistan,�� said Paul
Moore, Community Foods� marketing director. ��I think the British public
realize that we are there because forces have been sent their by their
government, and any project that involves bringing people together will be
viewed as positive. A country like that, that has been at war for 30 years, if
you can bring calm and happiness to a few families� lives and that can grow,
why wouldn�t you want to do that?��
|
|
|
|
Financials in: USD (mil) |
|
|
Except for share items (millions) and per
share items (actual units) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
26-Mar-2011 |
26-Mar-2010 |
31-Mar-2009 |
31-Mar-2008 |
31-Mar-2007 |
|
Period Length |
52 Weeks |
51 Weeks |
52 Weeks |
52 Weeks |
52 Weeks |
|
Filed Currency |
GBP |
GBP |
GBP |
GBP |
GBP |
|
Exchange Rate
(Period Average) |
0.644005 |
0.628216 |
0.592803 |
0.498361 |
0.528925 |
|
Consolidated |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Turnover (UK) |
92.5 |
76.4 |
72.8 |
88.3 |
87.4 |
|
Turnover (Exports) |
10.6 |
8.9 |
11.6 |
10.8 |
10.2 |
|
Total Turnover |
103.2 |
85.4 |
84.3 |
99.1 |
97.6 |
|
Cost of Sales |
91.6 |
79.5 |
75.3 |
85.6 |
85.7 |
|
Gross Profit |
11.6 |
5.9 |
9.0 |
13.5 |
11.9 |
|
Depreciation |
0.3 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
|
Other Expenses |
10.2 |
8.8 |
8.5 |
9.4 |
10.7 |
|
Other Income |
0.0 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
|
Interest Paid |
0.1 |
0.1 |
0.4 |
0.2 |
0.3 |
|
Exceptional Income |
-0.6 |
-0.7 |
-0.4 |
0.0 |
4.2 |
|
Discontinued Operations |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Profit Before Taxes |
0.6 |
-3.6 |
-0.2 |
4.0 |
5.3 |
|
Tax Payable / Credit |
-0.6 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
1.2 |
0.3 |
|
Extraordinary Items/Debits |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Dividends |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.8 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Profit After Taxes |
1.2 |
-3.6 |
-1.0 |
2.8 |
4.9 |
|
Minority Interests (Profit & Loss) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Audit Fees |
0.1 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Non Audit Fees |
0.1 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Number of Employees |
152 |
82 |
83 |
84 |
88 |
|
Wages |
5.1 |
3.4 |
3.4 |
4.2 |
4.9 |
|
Social Security Costs |
0.5 |
0.3 |
0.3 |
0.4 |
0.5 |
|
Pensions |
0.1 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.3 |
|
Other Pension Costs |
0.5 |
0.9 |
1.0 |
1.1 |
0.7 |
|
Employees Remuneration |
6.1 |
4.7 |
4.8 |
5.7 |
6.1 |
|
Directors Emoluments |
0.6 |
0.2 |
0.1 |
0.3 |
0.4 |
|
Other Costs |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Directors Remuneration |
0.6 |
0.8 |
0.6 |
0.8 |
0.7 |
|
Highest Paid Director |
0.2 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
- |
0.2 |
|
|
|
Annual Balance
Sheet |
|
Financials in:
USD (mil) |
|
|
26-Mar-2011 |
26-Mar-2010 |
31-Mar-2009 |
31-Mar-2008 |
31-Mar-2007 |
|
Filed Currency |
GBP |
GBP |
GBP |
GBP |
GBP |
|
Exchange Rate |
0.621678 |
0.670938 |
0.697666 |
0.503145 |
0.509853 |
|
Consolidated |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Land & Buildings |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
|
Fixtures & Fittings |
0.5 |
0.2 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
|
Plant & Vehicles |
0.7 |
0.6 |
0.3 |
0.6 |
0.6 |
|
Total Tangible Fixed Assets |
1.2 |
0.8 |
0.4 |
0.8 |
0.8 |
|
Intangible Assets |
0.7 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
0.2 |
0.0 |
|
Investments |
2.0 |
3.5 |
3.3 |
2.5 |
3.0 |
|
Total Fixed Assets |
3.9 |
4.4 |
3.9 |
3.5 |
3.8 |
|
Stocks |
18.2 |
13.7 |
16.1 |
28.8 |
21.5 |
|
Work in Progress |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Total Stocks Work In Progress |
18.2 |
13.7 |
16.1 |
28.8 |
21.5 |
|
Trade Debtors |
17.0 |
12.7 |
10.0 |
15.7 |
13.9 |
|
Inter-Company Debtors |
0.5 |
1.3 |
0.8 |
0.1 |
0.0 |
|
Other Debtors |
2.2 |
0.7 |
0.8 |
0.7 |
0.8 |
|
Total Debtors |
19.7 |
14.7 |
11.6 |
16.4 |
14.7 |
|
Cash and Equivalents |
0.2 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
1.3 |
0.0 |
|
Other Current Assets |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Total Current Assets |
38.1 |
28.4 |
27.8 |
46.5 |
36.3 |
|
Total Assets |
42.1 |
32.8 |
31.7 |
50.0 |
40.0 |
|
Trade Creditors |
7.5 |
5.2 |
2.9 |
7.9 |
4.6 |
|
Bank Overdraft |
0.6 |
0.7 |
0.1 |
0.0 |
0.9 |
|
Inter-Company Creditors |
0.0 |
0.7 |
0.3 |
0.0 |
0.7 |
|
Director Loans (Current Liability) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Total Finance Lease/Hire Purchase (Current Liability) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
|
Total Short Term Loans |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Accruals/Deferred Income (Current Liability) |
2.9 |
1.7 |
- |
1.2 |
1.2 |
|
Social Security/VAT |
0.0 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
|
Corporation Tax |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.6 |
0.0 |
|
Dividends (Current Liability) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Other Current Liabilities |
8.2 |
4.3 |
5.8 |
7.8 |
1.6 |
|
Total Current Liabilities |
19.2 |
12.7 |
9.3 |
17.7 |
9.3 |
|
Group Loans (Long Term Liability) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Director Loans (Long Term Liability) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Hire Purchase (Long Term Liability) |
0.0 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Leasing (Long Term Liability) |
0.0 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Total Hire Purchase Loans (Long Term Liability) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.1 |
|
Other Long Term Loans |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Accruals/Deferred Income (Long Term Liability) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Other Long Term Liabilities |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Total Long Term Liabilities |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.1 |
|
Deferred Taxation |
0.0 |
- |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Other Provisions |
0.4 |
0.2 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
1.6 |
|
Total Provisions |
0.4 |
0.2 |
0.0 |
0.1 |
1.7 |
|
Issued Capital |
0.1 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
|
Share Premium Accounts |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Revaluation Reserve |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Retained Earnings |
22.3 |
19.7 |
22.1 |
31.9 |
28.7 |
|
Other Reserves |
0.1 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
|
Minority Interests (Balance Sheet) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Total Shareholders Funds |
22.5 |
19.9 |
22.3 |
32.2 |
29.0 |
|
Net Worth |
21.8 |
19.7 |
22.2 |
32.0 |
29.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
Annual Cash
Flows |
|
Financials in:
USD (mil) |
|
|
26-Mar-2011 |
26-Mar-2010 |
31-Mar-2009 |
31-Mar-2008 |
31-Mar-2007 |
|
Period Length |
52 Weeks |
51 Weeks |
52 Weeks |
52 Weeks |
52 Weeks |
|
Filed Currency |
GBP |
GBP |
GBP |
GBP |
GBP |
|
Exchange Rate
(Period Average) |
0.644005 |
0.628216 |
0.592803 |
0.498361 |
0.528925 |
|
Consolidated |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Annual Ratios |
|
Financials in:
USD (mil) |
|
|
|
|
|
26-Mar-2011 |
26-Mar-2010 |
31-Mar-2009 |
31-Mar-2008 |
31-Mar-2007 |
|
Period Length |
52 Weeks |
51 Weeks |
52 Weeks |
52 Weeks |
52 Weeks |
|
Filed Currency |
GBP |
GBP |
GBP |
GBP |
GBP |
|
Exchange Rate |
0.621678 |
0.670938 |
0.697666 |
0.503145 |
0.509853 |
|
Consolidated |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current Ratio |
1.98 |
2.23 |
2.98 |
2.63 |
3.90 |
|
Liquidity Ratio |
1.04 |
1.16 |
1.25 |
1.00 |
1.58 |
|
Stock Turnover |
5.87 |
5.95 |
4.44 |
3.40 |
4.71 |
|
Credit Period (Days) |
58.16 |
56.73 |
51.03 |
58.40 |
50.13 |
|
Working Capital by Sales |
17.68% |
19.27% |
25.74% |
29.37% |
26.62% |
|
Trade Credit by Debtors |
0.44 |
0.41 |
0.29 |
0.50 |
0.33 |
|
Return on Capital |
2.71% |
-17.27% |
-0.74% |
12.33% |
17.84% |
|
Return on Assets |
1.47% |
-10.58% |
-0.52% |
7.96% |
13.69% |
|
Profit Margin |
0.58% |
-4.26% |
-0.23% |
4.06% |
5.41% |
|
Return on Shareholders Funds |
2.76% |
-17.47% |
-0.74% |
12.37% |
18.91% |
|
Borrowing Ratio |
2.61% |
7.09% |
2.13% |
0.33% |
6.11% |
|
Equity Gearing |
53.45% |
60.53% |
70.49% |
64.39% |
72.42% |
|
Debt Gearing |
- |
0.03% |
0.01% |
0.14% |
0.26% |
|
Interest Coverage |
4.32 |
-36.47 |
-0.47 |
20.21 |
20.44 |
|
Sales by Tangible Assets |
86.07 |
103.40 |
164.41 |
121.11 |
129.62 |
|
Average Remuneration per Employee |
0.0 |
0.1 |
0.0 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
|
Profit per Employee |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.1 |
|
Sales per Employee |
0.7 |
1.0 |
0.9 |
1.2 |
1.2 |
|
Capital Employed per Employee |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.3 |
0.4 |
0.3 |
|
Tangible Assets per Employee |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Total Assets per Employee |
0.3 |
0.4 |
0.4 |
0.6 |
0.5 |
|
Employee Remuneration by Sales |
5.90% |
5.46% |
5.68% |
5.74% |
6.30% |
|
Creditor Days (Cost of Sales Based) |
28.83 |
25.24 |
16.77 |
33.92 |
18.92 |
|
Creditor Days (Sales Based) |
25.59 |
23.51 |
14.98 |
29.31 |
16.61 |
FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES
|
Currency |
Unit
|
Indian Rupees |
|
US Dollar |
1 |
Rs.44.80 |
|
|
1 |
Rs.72.85 |
|
Euro |
1 |
Rs.63.11 |
RATING EXPLANATIONS
|
RATING |
STATUS |
PROPOSED CREDIT LINE |
|
|
>86 |
Aaa |
Possesses an extremely sound financial base with the strongest
capability for timely payment of interest and principal sums |
Unlimited |
|
71-85 |
Aa |
Possesses adequate working capital. No caution needed for credit
transaction. It has above average (strong) capability for payment of interest
and principal sums |
Large |
|
56-70 |
A |
Financial & operational base are regarded healthy. General
unfavourable factors will not cause fatal effect. Satisfactory capability for
payment of interest and principal sums |
Fairly Large |
|
41-55 |
Ba |
Overall operation is considered normal. Capable to meet normal
commitments. |
Satisfactory |
|
26-40 |
B |
Capability to overcome financial difficulties seems comparatively
below average. |
Small |
|
11-25 |
Ca |
Adverse factors are apparent. Repayment of interest and principal sums
in default or expected to be in default upon maturity |
Limited with
full security |
|
<10 |
C |
Absolute credit risk exists. Caution needed to be exercised |
Credit not
recommended |
|
-- |
NB |
New Business |
-- |
This score serves as a reference to assess SC’s credit risk
and to set the amount of credit to be extended. It is calculated from a
composite of weighted scores obtained from each of the major sections of this
report. The assessed factors and their relative weights (as indicated through
%) are as follows:
Financial
condition (40%) Ownership
background (20%) Payment
record (10%)
Credit history
(10%) Market trend
(10%) Operational
size (10%)
This report is issued at your request without any
risk and responsibility on the part of MIRA INFORM PRIVATE LIMITED (MIPL)
or its officials.