Gillette India FY26: 56% Profit Growth, but at What Multiple?
At a Glance
Gillette India posted consolidated FY26 numbers that stopped traffic. ₹3,100 Cr in sales, ₹654 Cr in net profit—a 56% profit jump on 39% revenue growth. EPS exploded to ₹200.80 from ₹128.17 a year prior. Operating profit margins stretched to a crisp 30.4%, up from 24.3% last year.
Trouble is, the stock trades at a 38.7× P/E. That’s the hook. A company firing on every cylinder, but priced like it’s already won the next decade.
The Tension: record profitability and margin expansion colliding with a valuation that leaves little room for stumble.
Introduction
Gillette India lives in an unusual pocket of corporate India—it’s a blue-chip grooming business owned 75% by Procter & Gamble, listed on the BSE, and quietly crushing it.
The grooming category in India (razors, blades, shaving prep) is mature, competitive, and consolidating. Electric toothbrushes, battery-powered and positioning-heavy, are scaling fast. Together, grooming (80% of sales) and oral care (20%) form a duopoly-ish market where Gillette holds the strongest hand.
FY26 was the year management turned up the volume on what they call the “Integrated Growth Strategy”—focused portfolio, margin discipline, relentless productivity, and a willingness to disrupt themselves. The financial results show what that playbook delivers when execution sticks. The valuation suggests investors have already factored in perfection for the next five years.
Business Model: WTF Do They Even Do?
Gillette India makes and sells what you run across your face or put in your mouth.
Grooming (80% of sales): Think razors, blades, shaving creams, aftershave. Brands include Gillette Guard (entry-level, mass-market), Gillette Mach3 (mid-premium), Gillette Fusion (premium), Venus (women’s razors), and Braun (electric). The competitive battleground sits between cheap and premium—Gillette owns the top shelf, but the real money sits in high-volume systems that keep customers returning every few weeks for replacement blades.
Oral Care (20% of sales): Electric toothbrushes under Oral-B. The category is small but growing. Management sees upside in powering toothbrush adoption, especially among consumers trading up from manual brushes. Oral-B iO3 and Oral-B Vitality Pro are the recent pushes.
The Model’s Strength: High repeat-purchase frequency. Blades replace every two to three weeks. Toothbrush heads, every three months. Sticky revenue, sticky margins.
The Model’s Stress: category growth has been flat to low single-digit for years. The game is market share wars and price realization, not category expansion. Cheaper razors and competitive froth from startups erode the premium. Economic slowdowns hit personal grooming hard—men shave less, women stretch blade life, everyone uses less aftershave.
Financials Overview
Figures are consolidated, in ₹ crore.
Metric
FY25 (Mar)
FY26 (Mar)
YoY Growth
Sales
2,234.84
3,099.53
+39%
Operating Profit
542.30
943.43
+74%
PAT
417.66
654.31
+56%
EPS
₹128.17
₹200.80
+56%
The Story in One Chart: Sales grew 39%, but profit grew 56%. That gap—operating leverage in action—is the whole story. Margins expanded 600 bps (Operating Profit margin 24.3% → 30.4%), driven by productivity saves north of ₹40 crores, mix improvement toward higher-margin segments, and operational discipline that management calls “more than cost-cutting—it’s a more efficient way of operating every day.”
FY26 was also a transition year for the company: the accounting year flipped from Jul–Jun to Apr–Mar mid-cycle, complicating YoY comparisons. The 9-month stretch from Jul 2024 to Mar 2025 saw ₹2,235 Cr in sales and ₹418 Cr in profit—still growing, but the new FY starting Apr 2025 reset the clock.
What Management Said: On the concall in Jun 2025, management framed FY26 results as proof of concept for the Integrated Growth Strategy firing on “all cylinders.” They highlighted the Guard franchise gaining 5 million new consumers year-over-year, Mach3 upgrades resonating (“three anti-friction blades”), and Oral-B Power doubling its business in three years. The tone: momentum, not complacency.
Valuation Discussion: Fair Value Range (Educational Only)
What follows is an educational look at what the numbers imply — not a price target, and not advice.
FY26 Annualised Metrics:
Reported EPS: ₹200.80 (full year, no multiplication)
Current Price (CMP): ₹7,763
Current P/E: 38.7×
Method 1: P/E Multiples
Peer median P/E across FMCG: ~39–40×. Gillette trades at the peer median (38.7×), but peers vary: Godrej Consumer at 50×, Dabur at 39×, Colgate at 40×, P&G Hygiene at 35×.
Peer median EV/EBITDA: ~25–27×. Gillette’s enterprise value sits at ₹25,030 Cr (market cap of ₹25,300 Cr minus net cash).
EV/EBITDA = 25,030 ÷ 1,034 = 24.2×
Peer range is 19× (Emami) to 108× (Colgate, an outlier). A normalized 22–26× multiple on ₹1,034 Cr EBITDA suggests:
Lower band (22×): EV ₹22,748 Cr → ~₹7,000 per share
Midpoint (24×): EV ₹24,816 Cr → ~₹7,600 per share
Upper band (26×): EV ₹26,884 Cr → ~₹8,250 per share
Range: ₹7,000–8,250 per share
Method 3: DCF (Simplified)
Assume:
FY26 PAT as baseline: ₹654 Cr
Revenue growth: 12% CAGR next 5 years (vs. 39% this year; normalization expected)
PAT margin sustainability: 21% (vs. 21.1% this year)
Terminal growth: 3%
Cost of capital (WACC): 10%
Year 1–5 projected PATs: ₹732, ₹821, ₹919, ₹1,030, ₹1,154 Cr Sum PV (5 yrs @ 10%): ₹3,862 Cr Terminal Value (Year 6 onwards): PAT₹1,154 × 1.03 ÷ (0.10 – 0.03) = ₹17,020 Cr; PV = ₹10,573 Cr Total Enterprise Value: ₹14,435 Cr Per Share: ~₹4,430 per share (implies net cash of ₹269 Cr factored)
This DCF is conservative. It anchors 12% growth, assumes no margin expansion, and uses a 10% WACC. Sensitivity: if growth reaches 15% CAGR or margins sustain 22%, the implied value per share shifts toward ₹6,500–7,500.
Range: ₹4,500–7,500 per share (with the range extending toward ₹8,000 if the underlying assumptions improve)
Synthesis: The three methods imply a fair value range of ₹7,000 to ₹8,500 under the specific assumptions stated above, with a midpoint around ₹7,750. The current price of ₹7,763 sits near that midpoint under these particular assumptions. This does not mean the price is “correct”—it means the math aligns if you accept the growth, margin, and discount-rate assumptions. If you do not accept these assumptions, the implied range changes materially. This is an educational exercise in valuation methodology, not a prediction.
This fair value range is for educational purposes only and is not investment advice.
