BENGALURU: Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Limited (P&G) subsidiary Gillette India Limited (Gillette India) spent the highest amount towards Advertisement and Sales Promotion (Ad & SP spend or expense) over the last seven quarters in Q3-2014 at Rs 96.90 crore as compared to the Rs 88.10 crore in the immediate trailing quarter and the Rs 68.39 crore in the year ago quarter. (Rs 100 Lakh = Rs 1 Crore). However in terms of Ad & SP as percentage of Income from Operations, the highest spend at 25.36 per cent was in the corresponding quarter of last year (Q3-2013).

Three segments contribute to the company’s Income from operations - grooming, portable power and oral care. Grooming segment includes blades, razors and toiletries, portable power segment includes batteries and oral care segment includes toothbrushes, toothpaste and oral care products. Gillette India’s products are sold under the brand Gillette with sub-brands like Fusion and Mach 3. Gillette India caters to Men’s personal care products such as razors, blades, shaving creams, gels, men’s skincare products, among others in India.

Note: Gillette India’s financial year ends on June 30. However, in keeping with convention in India, its June ended quarter has been termed as Q1 (instead of Q4 of the previous year), Its September ended quarter has been termed as Q2 (instead of Q1 of Gillette India’s new fiscal), the December ending quarter has been indicated as Q3 (instead of Q2 of Gillette’s fiscal), and the March ended quarter as Q4 (instead of Q3 of Gillette’s fiscal) in this article and figures/graphs.

Let us look at the quarterly numbers reported by Gillette India from Q1-2013 to Q3-2014

While in value or money terms as well as the q-o-q percentage change, Ad and SP expense has trended upwards as shown in Figure A and Figure B, Gillette India’s Ad and SP expense in terms of percentage of Income from Operations and Total Expense has shown a downward trend as Figure C shows.

Figure A shows the Ad and SP expense by value in Lakh of Rupees with an upward trend.

Figure B shows the q-o-q percentage change in Ad & SP expense also showing an upward trend.

Figure C shows that the Ad and SP expense trend is downwards in terms of percentage of Income from Operations and Total Expense. Basically the two curved lines almost run side by side with 20.79 per cent being the average Ad & SP as the percentage of Income from Operations and 22.81 per cent being the average Ad & SP as percentage of Total Expense over the seven quarters under consideration.  The lowest corresponding figures are 18.66  per cent and 20.64 per cent in Q4-2013 and the highest corresponding numbers are 25.36 per cent and 27.55 per cent (Q2-2013 ) Ad & SP spend as percentage of Income from operations and Total expense.

The company’s Income from Operations and Total Expense has shown an increasing trend as is evident from Figure D

Despite increase in Income from Operations, the company’s PAT has been the lowest in Q3-2014 at Rs 11.04 crore as compared to the highest amount in the last seven quarters of Rs 27.16 crore in Q4-2013. One of the major contributors to this fall in PAT is the change in inventories of finished goods, work in progress, and stock-in-trade which has added to expenses by Rs 0.51 crore as against reduction of expenses by Rs 11.55 crore in Q2-2013 and Rs 14.33 crore in Q32013. The company has also incurred a net foreign exchange loss of Rs (2.75) crore in Q3-2014 as against a net forex gain of Rs 4.43 crore in Q2-2014, a net forex loss of Rs (10.36) crore in Q3-2013.

Figure E indicates that the PAT has trended downwards in the past seven quarters starting from Q1-2013 until Q3-2014. Maybe the company may repeat or better its Q4-2013 performance which may reduce or reverse the downward slide in PAT.

In summary, the company’s PAT and Ad & SP expense are both trending downward as percentage of Operating Income as indicated in Figure F, but as mentioned above, Q4-2014 may see all that turn around considering the effect of forex loss and the change in inventories on Q3-2014 numbers overall. It may be noted that if one were to neglect the PAT and the AD & SP figures ofQ3-2014, the fall in PAT would not be as steep, while the fall in the case of Ad & SP expense as percentage of Income from operations would be steeper than across the seven months in consideration.