Procter & Gamble

Last week's close: Rs 578.50

Previous week's close: Rs 648.00

Procter & Gamble India fell by around 11 per cent in the last week.This was mainly due to poor performance in the first half of 1996-1997. Though sales have increased by 20 per cent over the corresponding period last year, profits have shown a decline both at the operating as well as at the net level.

P&G registered sales of Rs 205.6 crore compared to last year's Rs 171.55 crore while the operating profit was lower by 5.8 per cent and the operating profit margin had a severe beating declining to 15.63 per cent from 19.89 per cent.

The decline in margins is attributed because of pre-operative expenses of it's new Health Care plant in Goa and higher advertising expenditure for introduction its new products in the market such as Vicks Sinex, Vicks Vitamin C and Vicks Super Balm. The company's interest burden was also higher by 33.8 per cent to Rs 3.68 crore from Rs 2.75 crore. This was on the higherside due to higher investments in the introduction of new products as well as tight credit situation prevailing in the industry. The net profit declined by six per cent to Rs 14.25 crore from Rs 15.17 crore.