7 February 2019 which can be attributed to a combination of factors, such as (a) high commodity inflation levels, as also witnessed by peers so far in the Dec18 results, (b) 10% price cuts in and (c) absence of input tax credit under GST for sanitary napkins. EBITDA margin shrank 650bp YoY to 23.4%, led by higher ad spends (+140bp YoY fourth straight quarter of sharp increase YoY), employee cost (+40bp YoY) and other expenses (+10bp YoY). Net sales were up by 18.2% YoY to INR16.1b, EBITDA rose 0.8% YoY to INR4b and PAT grew 5.0% YoY to INR2.6b. Absence of input tax credit and price reduction will have an impact on margins in the subsequent quarters as category growth potential in the feminine hygiene segment (~70% of sales) and potential for market share growth because of its considerable moats and (2) potentially huge margin gains from premiumization over the longer term in feminine hygiene.