Nykaa Appoints Santosh Desai As Independent Director

Beauty ecommerce unicorn Nykaa has appointed advertising industry veteran Santosh Desai as an independent director on its board.

In a statement, Nykaa said Desai’s appointment would be effective from July 15 and he will have a three-year term.

As per his LinkedIn profile, Desai is currently the MD and CEO of Futurebrands India. Meanwhile, Nykaa, in the statement, said that Desai served as the CEO of Future Brands Ltd for nearly 17 years. 

Earlier, Desai also served as the president of advertising agency McCann and brings with him over two decades of experience in the advertising industry.

Currently, he is also serving on the boards of Think9 Consumer Technologies, Dainik Jagran Group and Breakthrough Energy.

Commenting on the appointment, Nykaa founder and CEO Falguni Nayar said, “Santosh’s experience in understanding the interwoven relationship between culture and brands has helped build several iconic brands… We are confident that Santosh’s strategic guidance will help steer our vision to propel Nykaa’s brand equity and bolster our existing bouquet of brands for long-term global success.”

Including Desai, the ecommerce unicorn’s board comprises nine directors. Milind Sarwate, Anita Ramachandran, Seshashayee Sridhara, and Pradeep Prameshwaram are the other independent directors on the board.

The appointment comes days after Nykaa reported its financials for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 (Q4 FY24). The company’s net profit rose 1.2X year-on-year (YoY) to INR 9.07 Cr during the quarter under review. However, it declined 48% on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis.

Operating revenue jumped 28% YoY to INR 1,667.9 Cr but fell 6% sequentially.

Along with the results, Nykaa also said that it expects a 10% YoY growth in its omnichannel beauty platform Nysaa, which is focused on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

The company said its board also approved the acquisition of the western wear and accessories business of Nykaa Fashion by its parent company FSN E-Commerce Ventures to streamline and merge the owned brand business under a single entity.

Similarly, it is also merging its content delivery arm Little Black Book (LBB) with Nykaa Fashion.

Shares of Nykaa ended Monday’s (May 27) trading session 0.8% lower at INR 166.80 on the BSE.

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