Other income stood at Rs 4.62 crore up by 3%. Interest cost was lower by 9% to Rs 14.13 crore, depreciation stood at Rs 33.07 crore up by 10% YoY, resulting in a PBT before forex and EO of Rs 68.83 crore which was flat on YoY basis. There was a forex loss of about Rs 0.75 crore as compared to forex loss of Rs 2.86 crore for Sep'15 quarter. There was an EO gain of Rs 23.92 crore pertaining to reversal of associate share of EDG business as per revised Accounting standard which resulted in a PBT after EO of Rs 92 crore up by 20% YoY. After total tax and MI of Rs 21.33 crore and Rs 0.10 crore, consolidated PAT for Sep'16 quarter stood at Rs 70.77 crore up by 27% YoY.

Net Sales from Amesa region grew by 13% to Rs 256.52 crore, that from EAP region was down 2% to Rs 145.43 crore, from America region, net sales was up by 13% to Rs 126.34 crore and that from EU region stood at Rs 87.81 crore, down by 1% y.o.y.

PBIT from Amesa region for Sep'16 quarter grew by 8% to Rs 32.85 crore with PBIT margin at 12.8%, that from EAP region, was lower by 17% to Rs 24.71 crore with PBIT margin of 17%, from America region, was lower by 38% to Rs 9.82 crore with PBIT margin of 7.8%, while EU region the company reported loss of Rs 0.85 crore as compared to a profit at PBIT level of Rs 5.16 crore for Sep'15 quarter.

Business Highlights for the Quarter ended Sep 2016:

Non oral care demand picked up in India with high double digit growth.

Mexico and U.S. posted strong top line growth.

EAP and Europe however remained flat with key customer off take still not recovering to the extent expected.

ROE and ROCE on TTM basis is at 17.5% and 16.8% respectively.

Outlook given by the company

The quarter certainly has shown a recovery over the previous year on the revenue front with growth of 10.5%, although two of the regions EAP and Europe did not fire to expectations. The profitability was impacted by one-off costs in India and Colombia where new facility are being stabilized to support business growth. Adjusted for this, underlying PAT growth for the quarter is 18.4%. Customer engagement continues to be strong. New product like Mystik (Hair Colorant Tubes) and GML (100% recyclable tubes) are being received with huge interest by the customers, which should strengthen the growth pipeline for the next financial year.

EDG acquisition will help unlock synergies such as cross selling opportunity in the German markets, sourcing flexibility and better capacity utilization at all of Europe plants. The acquisition will further enhance the position in the non-oral care category.

Overall, the strategy and the mission 20:20:20, we believe, is well secured.

Performance for the 6 months ended Sep'16

For the 6 months ended Sep'16, consolidated net sales were up by 2% to Rs 1101.62 crore. OPM was lower by 50 bps to 19% thus resulting in a OP of Rs 209.04 crore down by 1%. Other income was up by 1% to Rs 9.23 crore resulting in a 1% fall in PBDIT to Rs 218.27 crore. Interest cost was lower by 19% to Rs 27.24 crore, depreciation stood at Rs 64.41 crore up by 5% YoY, resulting in a PBT before forex and EO of Rs 126.53 crore which was up by 4% on YoY basis. There was a forex loss of about Rs 0.09 crore as compared to forex loss of Rs 3.39 crore for 6 months ende Sep'15. There was an EO gain of Rs 23.92 crore pertaining to reversal of associate share of EDG business as per revised Accounting standard which resulted in a PBT after EO of Rs 150.45 crore up by 14% YoY. After total tax and MI of Rs 41.48 crore and Rs 0.59 crore, consolidated PAT for 6 months ended Sep'16 stood at Rs 108.38 crore up by 19% YoY.

Net Sales from Amesa region de-grew by 2% to Rs 499.43 crore, that from EAP region was down 3% to Rs 274.18 crore, from America region, net sales was up by 2% to Rs 237.81 crore and that from EU region stood at Rs 169.83 crore, up by 2% y.o.y.

PBIT from Amesa region for Sep'16 quarter grew by 8% to Rs 68.95 crore with PBIT margin at 13.8%, that from EAP region, was lower by 16% to Rs 40.66 crore with PBIT margin of 14.8%, from America region, was lower by 38% to Rs 24.09 crore with PBIT margin of 10.1%, while EU region the company reported profit of Rs 11.79 crore as compared to a profit at PBIT level of Rs 9.75 crore for 6 months ended Sep'15, up by 21%.