BENGALURU: Tata Global Beverages Limited (TGBL) spent Rs 400.76 crore in Q3-2014 towards Advertisement and sales charges (Ad spend). This was the highest Ad spend by the company in the seven quarters staring with FY-2013 until Q3-2014. TGBL is the unifying entity of the Tata Group’s beverages interests under one umbrella. (Note : Rs 1 crore = Rs 100 Lakhs = Rs 10 million = Rs 100,00,000).

TGBL’s major brands include Tata Tea, Tetley, Good Earth, Jemca, Vitax, Eight O’Clock, Himalayan, Grand and Laager Roiboos.  The company has signed joint ventures with the global coffee company and brand Starbucks and with Pepsico . TGBL’s JV with Pepsico is Nourishco. TGBL is the second largest Tea company in the world. (Unilever is the biggest tea company in the world and its 100 year old tea brand Lipton that is available in about 100 countries).

TGBL says that it’s ‘Starbucks-A Tata Alliance’ JV has expanded to 34 stores in the country during Q3-2014 with robust store profitability.  Among the winning moments for the company in Q3-2014 were a strong branded tea topline sales performance versus previous year in a slowing market and a continued good performance by its coffee plantations. The company claims a 17 per cent top line growth across the India tea portfolio mainly due to value and volume increases despite decline in tea category. Various consumer promotions were undertaken by TGBL to drive sales growth during the quarter keeping in mind the competition’s aggressive promotions.

Let us look at the Total Net Income from Operations (Op Inc), Total Expense (Tot Exp), PAT and Ad Spend trends by the company from Q1-2013 to Q3-2014 (Note Q-o-q change figures for Q1-2013 with reference to Q4-2012 figures)

As mentioned above, the company’s Ad Spend in Q3-2014 was the highest over seven quarters in terms of money value at Rs  400.76 crore as well as in terms of percentage of Op Inc (19.26 per cent of Op Inc). During the immediate trailing quarter, TGBL’s Ad Spend was Rs 366.37 crore (18.95 per cent of Op Inc), while during Q3-2013, it was Rs 316.02 crore (16.5 per cent of Op Inc).

PAT for Q3-2014 at Rs 119.55 crore (5.75 per cent of Op Inc) was (-33.59) lower than the Rs 180.03 crore (9.31 per cent of Op Inc) in the immediate trailing quarter, but was 48.95 per cent higher than the Rs 80.26 crore (4.19 per cent of Op Inc) of a year ago quarter.

Overall, Figure A shows an upward linear trend for both PAT and Ad Spend. Given the fact that the company said that Q3-2014 was a slowing market and the aggressive moves by the competition, TGBL’s further Ad Spend should be healthy. Also, Figure B shows that Op Inc is also on an upward trend. During Q3-2014, the company reported the highest Op Inc over the seven quarters under consideration at Rs 2080.74 crore, up 7.62 per cent from the previous quarter’s Rs 1934.48 crore and 8.62 per cent more than the Rs 1951.56 crore of a year ago quarter.

TGBL says that its Op Inc growth has been understated due to revenue model for pods and restructuring. Also, its operating EBIT reflects significantly higher advertising and promotion spends as well as investments in new initiatives.

Figure C shows the Q-o-q percentage change in Op Inc, Tot Exp, PAT and Ad Exp.

Over the nine month period ended December 31, 2013, the company’s group income at Rs 5827.68 per cent was 5.93 per cent higher than the Rs  5030.94 crore in the corresponding nine month period of last year. PAT at Rs 411.21 crore (7.06 per cent of Op Inc) for 9M-2014 was 48.46 per cent more than the Rs 276.99 crore (5.03 per cent of Op Inc) in 9M-2013. The company’s Ad spend during 9M-2014 at Rs 1054.75 crore (16.85 per cent of Op Inc) was 13.05 per cent more than the Rs 932.97 crore (16.56 per cent of Op Inc) in 9M-2013. Pease refer to Figures D and E for Op Inc, Tot Exp, PAT and Ad Spend details for HY-2013, HY-2014, 9M-2013, 9M-2014, FY 2012 and FY 2013. All the numbers across all parameters clearly indicate an improvement over the respective time periods.