Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company PLC,

trading as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

Dilmah, is a Sri Lankan beverage company that is headquartered in

Peliyagoda Peliyagoda is a town in the Western Province of Sri Lanka, lying mostly on the north shore of the Kelani River The Kelani River () is a river in Sri Lanka. The fourth-longest river in the country, it stretches from the Sri Pada Mountain Rang ...

Western Province, Sri Lanka The Western Province ( ''Basnāhira Paḷāta''; ''Mael Mākāṇam'') is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrative division of the country. The provinces have existed since the 19th century but did not have any l ...

. While MJF Teas is the parent company of Dilmah, MJF Holdings is the ultimate parent. The company is best known for its brand of

Ceylon tea Ceylon tea is both the brand of tea which is produced in Sri Lanka and a historic term describing tea from that land. Ceylon tea has been described as not only a geographical descriptor but also a pillar of Culture of Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan cultur ...

, sold internationally. The company was founded in 1985 by Merrill J Fernando. Dilmah is the 10th largest tea brand in the world.

History

The company's founder, Merrill J. Fernando, was born in 1930 in

Negombo Negombo (, ), also known as Punchi Romaya (Little Rome), is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the west coast and at the mouth of the Negombo Lagoon, in the Western Province, Sri Lanka, Western Province, from Colombo via the E03 expressway ...

British Ceylon British Ceylon (; ), officially British Settlements and Territories in the Island of Ceylon with its Dependencies from 1802 to 1833, then the Island of Ceylon and its Territories and Dependencies from 1833 to 1931 and finally the Island of Cey ...

. He moved to

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

, where he became one of the Ceylonese tea tasters, after doing his training at

Mincing Lane Mincing Lane is a short one-way street in the City of London linking Fenchurch Street to Great Tower Street. In the late 19th century it was the world's leading centre for tea and spice trading. Etymology Its name is a corruption of Mynchen ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. While there, he was astonished to see that different teas were mixed and blended but still marketed as pure Ceylon tea. The tea which had been hand-picked and produced according to the Ceylonese traditional process was being used only as a raw material. It was bought cheaply, with branding and packaging taking place in Europe and the UK. This system meant that the tea producers received only tiny amounts of the total profit, with middlemen (

wholesaler Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

s and

reseller A reseller is a company or individual ( merchant) that purchases goods or services with the intention of selling them rather than consuming or using them. Individual resellers are often referred to as middle men. This is usually done for profit ( ...

s, mainly a few large corporations) receiving the greatest share of the profit. In 1962, he founded Ceylon Tea Services Company and later that year Merrill J. Fernando Company, which exported loose tea across the world, including North America and Australasia. In 1982 Fernando established Ceylon Tea Services Ltd, which became one of the first companies listed as a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

on the

Colombo Stock Exchange The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) (; ) is the main stock exchange in Sri Lanka that utilizes an electronic trading platform. The CSE headquarters have been located at the World Trade Center (Colombo) Towers in Colombo since 1995, and it has regi ...

. In 1985, Fernando launched the brand name "Dilmah", which was chosen by combining the first names of Fernando's sons, Dilhan and Malik. His aim was to serve the poor and underprivileged through his new company. He took a while to first convince the Australian supermarket retailer Coles to stock his new brand of tea, but eventually won over the Coles buyer, In 1988 the company was established, and a

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Coles store started stocking Dilmah on its shelves. It eventually spread to 35 other Coles stores in Victoria and then Woolworths started selling the product as well. Dilmah later exported the tea to New Zealand, where it was the top-selling brand in 2013, and also to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. In 2013, Australia made up 10 percent of Dilmah's global annual retail sales.

Structure and governance

The headquarters of Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company PLC is situated in

, along with associate companies Kahawatte Plantations, MJF Exports, Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers, and others. MJF Holdings is the parent company of these enterprises, which are listed on the

. Dilmah is the only fully

vertically integrated In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration, also referred to as vertical consolidation, is an arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each ...

tea company, which owns tea plantations, factories, printing and packaging facilities, and other investments in all segments of the tea industry.

Revenue

In September 2009 Ceylon Tea Services, Dilmah's parent company, earned

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

5.2 million on US$19.7 million in revenue, which was up from profits of US$1.3 million, on US$18.6 million in revenue the year before. Dilmah is the 10th largest tea brand in the world.

Charity

In 2007, Dilmah Conservation was founded, with one of its main aims being to protect Sri Lankan forests.

In popular culture

The company and brand were also well known through its television commercials featuring Fernando himself and his trademark catchphrase "Do Try It". Singer and television personality Kamahl, also featured in the company's Australian television commercials in 1988.

References

External links

* {{All Share Price Index Tea brands Sri Lankan tea Sri Lankan brands Tea companies of Sri Lanka Companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange 1985 establishments in Sri Lanka