GILLETTE INDIA LIMITED
ANNUAL REPORT 2011-2012
CHAIRMAN`S REPORT
Dear Shareholders,
Your Company`s continued focus on delivering innovations that touch and
improve more lives and prudent investments that allow us to serve more
consumers, have resulted in another year of achieving strong business
performance. As I share with you, your Company`s annual performance for the
Financial Year 2011-12, I take pride in the robust sales and volume growth
that the business has seen across the three business segments of Oral Care,
Personal Grooming and Portable Power.
The FMCG industry is poised to grow between 10-12% annually, and your
Company has harnessed this momentum to achieve accelerated sales and share
growth. I am happy to share that over the last 12 months, the Company has
delivered more than 16.5% increase in sales as compared to last year. This
has enabled the Board of Directors to recommend a dividend of Rs. 15 per
Share for the Shareholders this Financial Year.
This Fiscal Year, your Company made increased investments behind brand
building initiatives, to be able to achieve accelerated sales growth and
serve consumers with superior product propositions & technological
innovations. These steps are critical for category development and long
term growth of the Company, but impact margins and earnings in the short to
medium term. This is a strategic choice that your Company is making, in
line with its purpose driven growth strategy and its commitment to deliver
value to its Stakeholders.
This Fiscal Year was marked by breakthrough innovations that aim to further
enhance the value we provide to our consumers, who continue to trust our
brands. These innovations panned across the technologies as well as
marketing communications behind our product propositions. A great example
of this was the launch of the Gillette Fusion range, which is Gillette`s
best shaving system globally that guarantees an unparalleled shaving
experience with it`s unique 5-blade shaving technology, aimed at consumers
wanting to experience Gillette`s best shave.
With this launch, Gillette strengthens its position both as a market leader
and as a brand synonymous with cutting edge shaving innovations. Gillette
Mach 3 S innovative marketing campaign `Shave India Movement also continued
to win esteemed accolades for your Company, such as the Media Lion at the
prestigious Cannes International Festival of Creativity among several
others. This Financial Year, your Company also participated in the `Thank
you Mom` campaign as part of P&G`s global partnership with the Olympics.
Oral-B had another strong year with strong double digit growth driven by
robust performance across price tiers driving fundamental brand building
activities. Oral-B, which is the `World`s No. 1 Dentist used toothbrush
brand` continued its partnership with Dentists across India to promote oral
health awareness for yet another year through the `Oral-B Smile India
Movement-2` initiative.
Duracell has achieved robust sales and grown its share in the market
significantly. Duracell will continue to outperform the category focusing
on high-drain consumers in need of superior performance.
As a Company, we continue to remain committed to our purpose of touching
and improving the lives of consumers, in more parts of India and more
completely. Inspired by this purpose, our signature social responsibility
program in India - Shiksha - has empowered over 385,000 lesser-privileged
children with access to good quality education through 200 schools across
the length & breadth of the Country. This Financial Year was marked by
heightened support from our consumers as well as partners such as, NGO`s,
Retailers, Media and other Stakeholders - thus enabling us to help take
India one step closer to 100% Shiksha. Our efforts towards environmental
sustainability were strengthened with our Corporate Office in Mumbai
reducing its annual energy consumption by over 27% over the last 9 years,
saving over 1700 gigajoules of energy.
To conclude, I re-affirm your Company`s focus on delivering robust
Financial Results, amidst an uncertain economic climate that determines
factors such as high input costs and consumer demand. I would like to thank
all our employees for their outstanding performance and Stakeholders for
their resolute trust in the Company. I look forward to your continued
support and participation in the growth of the Company.
Place: Mumbai S. K. Poddar
Date : August 23, 2012 Chairman |