BENGALURU: Q2-2015 has witnessed probably what has been Colgate-Palmolive (India) highest advertisement and sales promotion spend (marketing or ASP) in a quarter at Rs 201 crore (20.1 per cent of Total Income or TI) based on the data over the last 10 quarters starting Q1-2013 until Q2-2015. Q2-2015 ASP was 11.3 per cent more than the Rs 180.55 crore (18.7 per cent of TI) in the immediate trailing quarter (Q1-2015) and 68.2 percent more than the Rs 119.47 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter Q2-2014.

Note: 100,00,000 = 100 Lakhs = 10 million = 1 crore

Colgate-Palmolive’s brands include Colgate for oral care, Palmolive, Charmis and Halo for personal care, and Axion for household care.

Please refer to figure A below. Over the 10 quarter period under consideration, Q2-2015 ASP is also the highest in terms of percentage of TIO, with the previous highest being 18.7 percent of TI in Q1-2015.

Across seven financial years starting FY-2008 until FY-2014, the company’s TI, ASP  and ASP as percentage of TI show an upward linear trend, with the company’s marketing spends being the highest both in terms of absolute rupees and percentage of TI in FY-2014 at Rs 688.66 crore (19.2 per cent of TIO).

In H1-2015 (six month period ended September 30, 2014), Colgate-Palmolive’s ASP at Rs 381.55 crore (19.5 percent of TI) was 72.8 percent more than the Rs 220.86 crore (12.3 percent of TI) in H1-2014 and was more than double (2.21 times) the ASP of Rs 172.64 crore (11 percent of TI) in H1-2013.

Similarly, across the 10 quarters under consideration in this report, TI, ASP and ASP as percentage of TI show an upward linear trend. Colgate-Palmolive’s TI in Q2-2015 at Rs 1000.52 crore was 3.9 percent more than the Rs 956.90 crore in Q1-2015 and 9.5 percent higher y-o-y than the Rs 913.75 crore.

Colgate-Palmolive’s TI in Q2-2015 at Rs 1000.52 was 3.9 percent more than the Rs 963.55 crore in Q1-2015 and 9.5 percent more than the Rs 913.75 crore in Q-2014. For H1-2015, Colgate-Palmolive’s TI improved 9.5 percent to Rs 1957.42 crore from Rs 1790.56 crore in H1-2014. The company had reported TI of Rs 3578.81 crore for FY-2014.

Colgate-Palmolive’s Advertisement spends to increase in Q3-2015?

Colgate-Palmolive’s ASP comprises of two components – (a) Advertising, and (b) Sales promotion. Data for 3 financial years – FY-2012, FY-2013 and FY-2014 show the breakup of ASP into these two components. Please refer to Fig A1 below. If one were to assume the lowest percentage in figure A1- 63.8 of ASP, as component of ad spend, the company’s advertisement spend in Q2-2015 works out to about Rs 128 crore. The simple average of the ad spends for the three years works out to 66.8 percent or about Rs 134 crore.

Going by the company’s trends in FY-2013 and FY-2014, ASP has been higher in Q3 than in Q2, hence the chances of the company spending at least the same, if not higher amounts towards marketing in Q3-2015 are quite high.

PAT

Colgate-Palmolive’s PAT in Q2-2015 was 4 percent lower at Rs 129.58 crore (13 percent of TI) than Rs 134.91 crore (14.1 percent of TI) in Q1-2015, but was 18.3 percent more than the Rs 109.52 crore (12.2 percent of TI) in the corresponding quarter of last year. YTD, in fiscal 2015, Colgate-Palmolive’s PAT at Rs 264.49 crore (13.5 percent of TI) was 10.3 down as compared to the Rs 294.74 crore (16.5 percent of TI) in H1-2014.

On an annual basis, the company’s PAT shows an upward linear trend in terms of absolute rupees, but a downward linear trend in terms of percentage of TI. During the 10 quarters under consideration, the company’s PAT shows almost flat to downward linear trend in terms of absolute rupees and a downward trend in terms of percentage of TI.