Talking to journalists is not part of Jim Kilts's corporate game plan. Media interviews tend to raise expectations, and the Gillette chief executive declared war on over-optimism when he took over the household goods company two years ago.

To further damp things down, Mr Kilts last year became one of the first US executives to drop "earnings guidance" - the practice whereby Wall Street analysts receive estimates of companies' forthcoming quarterly numbers.

"Some said they'd punish us by putting the numbers so high we'd continue to miss them," says Mr Kilts. But he stuck to his guns and Wall Street fell into line, calculating likely sales and earnings figures on its own.

After beating Wall Street estimates for the fourth consecutive quarter on Tuesday, he may have a tough time keeping a lid on expectations. Gillette's sales were up 14 per cent in the first quarter of this year and profits rose 16 per cent.

The results reflect Mr Kilts's legendary ability to focus on the task at hand. Having granted a rare press interview, he reviews facts and figures with the precision many executives reserve for board meetings. He is clearly proud of the numbers.

After five years of stagnant revenues and earnings, Gillette has begun to regain momentum. Consumers have embraced new products including Mach3 Turbo razors and battery-operated toothbrushes. Working capital improvements are paying off. The company generated $1.7 billion (€1.5 billion) in cash last year, just short of the $1.8 billion it managed for the whole 1998-2000 period, a feat that Bill Steele, an analyst at Bank of America, calls "incredible".

Manoeuvring Gillette into a turnaround is a challenge Mr Kilts relishes and had coveted before it came to him. In the 1990s, he ran Kraft foods for Philip Morris and was credited with the revival of Nabisco. After Philip Morris bought Nabisco in 2000, he was asked which other companies he would consider managing: "There were just three: Procter & Gamble, Philip Morris and Gillette. But I didn't see any of those jobs opening up soon. I loved the Kraft brand, but Geoffrey Bible [Philip Morris's chief executive] had no intention of leaving. \ Lafley was in at P&G, and Gillette had just appointed Mike Hawley as chief executive."

Mr Kilts was surprised when Gillette's board - led by the legendary investment guru, Warren Buffett - forced out Mr Hawley in late 2000 and approached him about the job. It offered a chance to use strategies that had worked well at Nabisco and Kraft, where Mr Kilts had become a master at exerting financial controls while reinvigorating brands. He readily accepted the job.

But the former Nabisco chief - the first outsider to take the top job at Gillette - was taking on a culture foreign to his way of doing business. Gillette's flamboyant style - which had succeeded in the early 1990s but failed the company in the latter part of the decade - was alien to the new chief.

At Nabisco, Mr Kilts became famous for using product innovations to increase sales. Country Time Lemonade powder mix was introduced after it was observed that American dads were surreptitiously drinking a similar beverage aimed at children: Kool-Aid. The very successful Lunchables - pre-packed meals for children - were launched after researchers found some parents were at a loss over preparing school lunches.

But while Mr Kilts relied on extensive research to identify unsatisfied consumer needs, Gillette traditionally adhered to an "if we build it, they will come" strategy. It relied on big product splashes like three-blade razors. Consumers might not know they needed a better shave, the theory went, but once they had tried a superior Gillette system they would "trade up" and pay a premium for it. The strategy created breakthrough innovations he had not met as a chief executive: products like the Mach3 razors for men and Venus for women.

On the other hand, Gillette's product-driven culture led the company in 1996 to make a terrible mistake: the purchase of Duracell, the battery maker. Al Zeien, the former chief executive, planned to apply the blade and razors strategy to batteries. Build a better battery, he reasoned, and consumers would trade up. Few at the time questioned its logic.

There was just one problem. Consumers did not want better batteries; they wanted cheaper ones.

Although a battery-buying craze in the months before the Iraq war boosted first-quarter sales, Mr Kilts is concerned that price competition may soon take its toll again. He is cutting promotional spending in batteries to plough more money into blades and razors.

Gillette is planning to spread its net wider. It insists it will launch another breakthrough razor, although the nature and timing of it are closely guarded secrets.

Mr Kilts's biggest achievements on the financial side are also impressive. Better use of working capital, lay-offs and other efficiency gains have substantially reduced costs. "We used to be the slowest collector and the fastest payer in the world," he says. "Now we have set terms."

Mr Kilts says he will continue to focus on cost-cutting but pledges to deliver growth in the company's top line as well. Gillette still faces enormous challenges.

It is unclear whether the company can continue to pull off big advances in blades and razors, particularly under a chief executive whose past strengths do not include high technology.

Further cost savings will be harder to find and stabilising the Duracell division remains a daunting task. But Mr Kilts has made his pledges, and if he can deliver on them Gillette will once again be a star of the consumer products industry. - (Financial Times Service)