Nykaa bets on own brands, acquires 100% stake in wellness brand Nudge

Falguni Nayar-led Nykaa has been betting big on the strength of House of Nykaa, its own brands across verticals like fashion and beauty and personal care, which delivered 57% growth in GMV to an annualised run rate of Rs 2,700 crore in the first quarter.

Doubling down on its private labels, the company also announced the acquisition of the remaing 40% stake in wellness brand Nudge for a consideration of Rs 14.26 lakh. After acquiring a minority stake in 2022, the complete acquisition of Nudge signals Nykaa's focus on building and scaling its presence in the wellness sector, particularly in the dietary supplements and nutricosmetics categories.

Dot&Key, which Nykaa initially acquired in FY22, is now seeing an annualised GMV run rate of Rs 1,500 crore, doubled from last year.

"Importantly, the EBITDA margins on this (Dot & Key) business are in the high teens. There is a lot of profitability in this side of the business. It has a very strong distribution strategy across Nykaa and other platforms as well, 250 beauty stores, 30,000 stores via the Superstore business. It is strengthening its presence across categories, being number one in skincare, moisturiser, and sunscreen, all very large skin categories that are very hard to disrupt and very competitive," said Adwaita Nayar, CEO of Nykaa Fashion and Head of Owned Brands, in a post-earnings call with analysts.

The company also reaffirmed its Investor Day guidance for Fashion, expecting the business to break even by the end of the year. The segment, which competes with Tata Cliq, Ajio, and Myntra, among others, already saw its bottom line improve both sequentially and annually. The GMV for the segment grew by 25% to Rs 964 crore with significant improvements in EBITDA.

The Mumbai-based company has been scaling up its quick commerce offering under Nykaa Now. The service, which delivers products under two hours, is available across seven cities, helped by its network of over 50 dark stores.

Nykaa has remained bullish on its offline presence, particularly to sell premium products. During the quarter, it clocked double-digit same-store sales growth on its profitable store network, which stands at around 250 stores across the country.

On a consolidated basis, FSN-E-commerce Ventures, the parent company behind Nykaa, reported a 79% growth to Rs 24.47 crore in consolidated net profit for the first quarter compared to Rs 13.64 crore in the same period last year. The company’s consolidated revenue from operations rose 23% to Rs 2,155 crore in the quarter ended June 30, compared to Rs 1,746 crore a year ago.