CALCUTTA, March 9: Harrisons Malayalam Ltd, the Cochin-based tea and rubber plantation company of the RPG group, is trying to acquire tea gardens in north Bengal and Dooars, its president P Rajagopalan said.After a gap of six years, the company will pay an interim dividend of 20 per cent this year, absorbing Rs 3.96 crore which will include tax on dividend. It paid a 20 per cent dividend in the last fiscal.
Rajagopalan, who came here to attend the company's board meeting on Monday, said Harrissons Malayalam is in talks with several tea gardens in north Bengal and the Dooars region. The company has a poor market share in the eastern region, where consumption of tea is higher than in other parts of the country. Rajagopalan said Harrissons has 13 tea gardens of which 11 are in Kerala and the other two in Tamil Nadu.
According to him, the declaration of an interim dividend is not intended to boost the company's image and increase the price of its scrip. "All companies want the price of their share to behigh. We have declared interim dividend because our performance during the first eleven months of the current fiscal has been very good," he said.
