Colgate Palmolive (India)

“we expect gross margins to be in the range, but EBITDA would be a function of what we are going to invest.”

“So the bias here would be on higher advertising and EBITDA percentage may be impacted. We are not working towards any particular level of EBITDA.”

“there would be an upward bias even on the currently reported quarter advertising numbers. And therefore, in the short term, we're not going to, you know, be held by the EBITDA levels, no target at a specific level.”

“So what we are saying is that we will deliver higher levels of growth, but it will be a more balanced mix of these three than you know you've seen in the past.”

“And we intend to drive growth ahead of profitability as we go forward.”

“So we are also seeing that our premium business is growing 6X the market”

“And the outcome is that we now grow 5X faster than our key competitor in premium toothpaste.”

“And you can see it's up to 2.5X as a percentage contribution to overall toothpaste sales.”

“e-com for us is growth accretive, margin accretive, premiumisation accretive, share accretive.”

“Lastly, I come to personal care. I must confess that this has been an area of disappointment. We've not done a great job with Palmolive.”

“The 6% contribution of e-commerce is actually the market, it's not us. Our contribution is actually double digit.”

“Actually, our last year's performance was more to do with the fact that we saw a significant slowdown in the urban markets in the first part of last year”

“Whitening penetration in this country remains around the 2% mark.”

“delivered good growth in the last few quarters. And we continue to see good growth coming in.”

“So over the last three years, that number has moved from 14.8 to 18.6”

“if you take the first block FY21 to FY23, where in the 65 to 68% levels, and if you look at FY24 to FY26, 69 to 70%, and Q1, we reported 69.7%.”

“So this is the funding the growth program as gross margin savings. We get between 4 and 5%.”

“So you saw Q1 was 252 crore in advertising, which was 34% up year on year.”

“a lot of the incremental is going into the premium portfolio into new channels. And we will continue to invest here with the upward bias.”

“So again, just to illustrate the same point, or EBITDA is 500 bps clear of the nearest competitor.”

“so cash gen continues to improve. So the last financial year it was Rs. 1800 crore”

“We've always been at negative. But FY '26 we ended at -15%”

“We have recently entered into a partnership with Bombay Shaving Company to help make sure that the two of us can work together to build the digital presence of Palmolive Body Wash”

“when we mean end to end, it's for e-com and D2C only. So modern trade, traditional trade, those will stay with Colgate.”

“If you are asking me, is there potential for us to get into other brands in this country from the global Colgate portfolio? I've said this repeatedly that I think the answer is yes as this trajectory and performance continues in oral health.”

“I'm not sure we necessarily need to go into the low margin mass category. That's not necessarily the direction we would travel in, but there's enough opportunity.”

“we now have a whole range of Harry Potter toothpaste and toothbrushes that are going into market as we speak. The kids version is already in market. The adult versions follow in just a couple of weeks”

“And we've returned like 10,000 crore in the last ten years to shareholders.”

“Dividend payout has been consistent over the years and since, listing at 22% CAGR, we've given very good returns to the shareholders.”

“Profitability at Rs. 343 crore was up 10.6% excluding one off on a comparable basis. So this excludes the IDS related to GST impact and some restructuring impact.”

“So I don't see that competitive intensity as either gone up or gone down”

“So are we worried? No, I don't think we are worried.”

“we don't know how this is going to pan out there is the headwinds of inflation.”

“So a quick glance back at what we achieved in the first quarter of sales was Rs. 1591 crores, which was 12%”

“And profit after tax at 22.3% is at very high levels.”

“Right now, we are making the call that will invest more and grow the business faster and accelerate it.”

“return on capital employed stable at 121% among the highest in the industry again.”

“for the first six months of the calendar year, we are 10.5% ahead of our oral care peers.”