Analysts pin HUL's revival hopes on CEO Priya Nair
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Mumbai: Analysts expect Priya Nair , the first woman MD & CEO in Hindustan Unilever 's (HUL) history, to build her revival strategy around growth at India's biggest consumer goods maker, with the news of her appointment from next month boosting the stock by about 5% in D-Street's evident vote of trust in the incoming leadership.London-based Nair takes charge at a time when the FMCG major is facing slowing growth and intense competition from fast moving D2C brands and new-age players. Under the watch of the exiting leadership, sales barely climbed 2% while the stock slid around 10%.The leadership transition, which would see the 92-year-old HUL get its first woman boss, comes as incumbent leader Rohit Jawa, who was appointed in June 2023, steps down after the shortest CEO tenure in the company's history - well before the expiry of his five-year term.Analysts are counting on Nair's track record of reviving beleaguered businesses at HUL. As Executive Director of Home Care from 2014 to 2020, she helped boost the segment's profit margins from 13.1% to 18.8%, which also pushed HUL's overall margins up from 15% to 22.3%.Sunny Agrawal, head of fundamental research at SBI Securities, believes that HUL's leadership change comes at a crucial time, as the company grapples with sluggish growth and rising competition."When Varun Berry took over the reins from the earlier management at Britannia, that change brought fresh thinking and a new strategy, which drove the company into an extraordinary growth trajectory. Street is expecting a similar kind of acceleration in growth for HUL, post management change."The appointment of the 53-year-old industry veteran who has nearly three-decades of experience within HUL, comes at an important time as the company struggles with slow growth."She has turned around the beauty and skincare segment, and I believe she will bring a lot of best practices, product innovation, and new products into this space, which is a high-margin area," said Siddarth Bhamre, head-institutional research, Asit C Mehta Nair has nearly three decades of experience at HUL, with a strong track record across key categories and deep understanding of the Indian market. She previously served as Executive Director of Home Care (2014-2020) and Beauty & Wellbeing (2020-2022) at HUL, before moving into her current role as Unilever Group President of Beauty & Wellbeing.As ED of Beauty and Wellbeing from 2020 to 2022, Nair led a strategic shift toward premium segments, increasing HUL's portfolio focus on premium demand spaces to 26%, up from around 20% in 2020.This push for premiumization has become increasingly important as Indian consumers opt for higher-value products.Global brokerage houses are also seeing the change in leadership as a catalyst for HUL. The Japanese brokerage firm, Nomura believes that this leadership change will give HUL the necessary edge over its competitors, helping it tackle market challenges , speed up its digital transformation , and tap into the growing and long-term opportunities in India's consumer market.
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