MAM
Wunderman Thompson (WT) India has a thumping win at Facebook’s Thumbstoppers Summit ‘19
MUMBAI: Wunderman Thompson India has reason to celebrate as 5 of its creative minds won at Facebook India’s inaugural Thumbstoppers Summit hosted last evening. The 5 winners felicitated at last night’s event included Shibnath Sen, Samriddhi Shah, Yashaswini, Nuzhath Enayath and Ravi Mishra, out of which veteran senior creative director Shibnath Sen and junior copywriter Samriddhi Shah will travel to Cannes next year. Touted as the biggest platform in Asia for creativity in mobile advertising, ‘Facebook Thumbstoppers’ summit saw the coming together of some of the best creative talent from across Asia which included 500+ top creatives, marketers, production houses, and media companies. The event was also attended by leading Bollywood directors Kiran Rao and Zoya Akhtar and rapper Naezy who shared their insights on creativity and mobile video advertising.
Launched in May this year, Facebook’s Thumbstoppers format was created to help brands redefine storytelling in mobile video advertising with stories that evoke emotions under 10 seconds to change human behaviour. Wunderman Thompson India has worked closely with Facebook, film director-producer Kiran Rao and ad-filmmaker Prakash Verma to help pivot the advertising and marketing communities to embrace mobile-first storytelling. With participation in the challenge from more than 3500 creative scripts across 4 categories, top 16 films have been produced by Facebook and the top 4 winners travel to Cannes 2020.
Commenting on the wins Tarun Rai, Chairman & Group CEO, Wunderman Thompson South Asia, said, “It was a great night for Wunderman Thompson with five winners out of a total of sixteen – the largest number, by far, from any agency. It shows the depth of creative talent we have at the agency and also the diversity of our talent – whether it is gender diversity or age and experience. Congratulations to all the winners! We are a new breed of agency and I am happy to see a new breed of talent shining through. And of course, it was great to see Shibu amongst the winners – still young at heart.”
Senthil Kumar, Chief Creative Officer, Wunderman Thompson India, further added, “5 out of 16 winners in the Facebook’s Thumbstoppers Challenge demonstrates the creative firepower at Wunderman Thompson India. The fact that we have the youngest and the oldest winners going to Cannes 2020 proves that creativity is never dated. It’s been a Thumbstopping HeartMoving journey for the team over the last 6 months.”
Some of the winning entries from Wunderman Thompson included inspiring storytelling highlighting important social causes:
Shibnath Sen, Senior Creative Director, Wunderman Thompson – ‘Dogs don’t have an option, you do!’
https://www.facebook.com/WunThompsonSA/videos/729930257474313/
Samriddhi Shah, Junior Copywriter, Wunderman Thompson – ‘Give home-makers the respect they deserve’
https://www.facebook.com/WunThompsonSA/videos/506142670163831/
Nuzhath Enayath, Junior Copywriter, Wunderman Thompson – ‘Not all protests are loud’
https://www.facebook.com/WunThompsonSA/videos/2412120138904036/
Yashaswini Singh, Copywriter, Wunderman Thompson – ‘Courage is beautiful’
https://www.facebook.com/WunThompsonSA/videos/1139876862883035/
Shankar Mishra, Creative Director, ADK Fortune – ‘Donate to get’
https://www.facebook.com/WunThompsonSA/videos/1410246975790498/
Brands
Ceat FY26 profit rises 68.6 per cent to Rs 812.7 crore
Q4 PAT up 182.5 per cent; revenue grows 15.5 per cent to Rs 15,214.9 crore
MUMBAI: Tyres are rolling faster and so are Ceat’s numbers. Ceat Limited reported a strong performance for FY26, with profit after tax surging 68.6 per cent year-on-year to Rs 812.7 crore, driven by steady revenue growth and improved operating efficiency. For the full year, revenue from operations rose 15.5 per cent to Rs 15,214.9 crore, compared to Rs 13,171.7 crore in FY25. Total income stood at Rs 15,346.4 crore, reflecting both core growth and higher other income.
The March quarter delivered an even sharper uptick. Q4 FY26 revenue grew 18.2 per cent year-on-year to Rs 4,035.9 crore, while profit after tax jumped to Rs 283.6 crore up from Rs 100.4 crore in the same period last year, marking a 182.5 per cent increase.
Operating performance remained firm, with EBITDA margins improving to 14.55 per cent in Q4 from 11.56 per cent a year ago. Net profit margin for the quarter stood at 7.03 per cent, more than doubling from 2.94 per cent in Q4 FY25.
Cost pressures remained visible but manageable. Material costs for the year rose to Rs 9,197.1 crore, while finance costs increased to Rs 359.5 crore, reflecting higher borrowings. However, stronger topline growth and operational efficiencies helped offset these pressures.
On the balance sheet front, net worth expanded to Rs 5,067.0 crore as of March 31, 2026, up from Rs 4,285.8 crore a year earlier. The debt-to-equity ratio stood at 0.59, compared to 0.45 in FY25, indicating a moderate rise in leverage amid expansion and funding activity.
Cash flow from operations remained robust at Rs 1,839.9 crore for FY26, supporting capital expenditure of over Rs 1,076.0 crore towards capacity and asset investments. The company also deployed capital across investments and mutual funds during the year.
In terms of financing, Ceat raised Rs 250 crore through unsecured non-convertible debentures during the year, while Rs 400 crore of such instruments remain outstanding. Additionally, commercial papers worth Rs 500 crore were outstanding but not due for repayment as of March-end.
The numbers suggest a company gaining traction across both growth and profitability metrics, where steady demand, improved margins and disciplined capital allocation are helping CEAT keep its performance firmly on track.
