Bengaluru: Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting has acquired Philippines-based S Brands Consumer Care, a move that will take its business in the country past the Rs 1,000-crore revenue milestone and strengthen its position in one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing personal care markets.The acquisition, Wipro Consumer Care’s 16th globally and its second in the Philippines after buying Splash in 2019, will make the country its third international market after Malaysia and China to cross Rs 1,000 crore in annual revenue.“We were looking at markets where we wanted to double down, and the Philippines is one such market with significant opportunities,” Kumar Chander, CEO of Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting, told TOI. “With this acquisition, the Philippines becomes our third Rs 1,000 crore-plus market outside India. Vietnam should become the fourth by the end of this year.”The company did not disclose the deal value.“The Philippines is the only market in Asia where the hair conditioner category is larger than the shampoo category,” Chander said. “Consumers are upgrading from regular conditioners to premium treatments, and we believe there is significant headroom for growth.”The acquisition complements Wipro’s existing portfolio in the country. Through Splash, it already owns Vitress, the market leader in leave-on hair conditioners.“We were already number one in hair styling. With this addition, we also become number one in hair treatments,” Chander said.Anita B Zutshi, CFO of Wipro Enterprises, said: “The acquisition gives us access to scale, attractive categories where we have more than 45-50% market share, and strong channel complementarity. It is accretive to growth and margins, and we believe Wipro can be the best owner of this asset.”Separately, Wipro Consumer Care reported FY26 revenue of Rs 11,635 crore, up 9.3% year-on-year. However, it has restated its reported revenue to Rs 10,800 crore following an industry-wide change in the accounting treatment of trade promotion expenses. The revision does not affect the company’s underlying growth or profitability.“Earlier, certain modern trade promotional expenses were shown as operating costs below revenue. Following an advisory from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, these expenses are now netted off against revenue. It is essentially a reclassification. Underlying growth remains 9.3% and profits remain unchanged,” Chander said.He added that the revised accounting treatment is being adopted across the FMCG industry, bringing greater uniformity to financial reporting.
