MUMBAI: Britannia Industries (BIL) has spiked its spend on advertising and promotions in the fiscal ended 31 March by 26.07 per cent.

On a consolidated basis, the company spent Rs 4.2 billion on advertising in the year as opposed to Rs 839.3 million in the previous fiscal.

For the fourth quarter of the fiscal ended 31 March 2012, the company spent Rs 1.1 billion on advertising as opposed to Rs 839.3 million a year ago.

Britannia made several new introductions in the Health & Nutrition products as well as indulgent products. Its longstanding brand GoodDay completed 25 years and added new offerings like Choconut, Chocochip and Classic Fresh Bake cookies to its portfolio. A range of savoury snacks - NutriChoice Multigrain Thins, NutriChoice Multigrain Roasty and 50-50 Snackuits - were also launched.

Total expenses increased by 20.03 per cent to Rs 52.36 billion, from Rs 44.38 billion.

BIL MD Vinita Bali said, "Our three priorities during the year were managing revenue, managing cost and generating new value through innovation in products, processes and technology. This focus enabled us to deliver a top line growth of 19 per cent and a profit growth of 48.5 per cent, on a consolidated basis. Each business, in India and overseas, showed a significant improvement in performance.”

BIL’s consolidated net profit went up by 48.53 per cent to Rs 1.99 billion, compared to Rs 1.34 billion in the earlier year. Total income from operations jumped 19 per cent to Rs 54.85 billion, from Rs 46.09 billion.