Emami expects The Man Company to post 25-30% growth in FY26, looks to execution BCG’s strategy for Kesh King in H2

NH, Bhansali, CEO, Finance, Strategy & Business Development and CFO, Emami Ltd
| Photo Credit:
ASHOKE CHAKRABARTY

With the new CEO taking charge of The Man Company, Emami Ltd expects this men’s grooming brand to post around 25-30 per cent year-on-year growth in sales in terms of value this fiscal after witnessing a de-growth last fiscal.

The FMCG major is also looking to commence the execution of the recommendations of consultancy firm BCG for Kesh King in the second half of this fiscal to revitalise this underperforming hair care range.

Zairus Master, who was the chief business officer at Honasa Consumer (parent firm of Mamaearth), has recently been appointed as the new CEO of Helios Lifestyle, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Emami Ltd. Helios owns The Man Company.

“In order to give a very focused attention, now we have a new CEO for The Man Company. Zairus Master was earlier working with Mamaearth as a chief business officer. He has very recently joined, and he has all the experience of running a D2C firm and this kind of new age company. We are hopeful that the company is going to deliver very good growth in the times to come,” said NH Bhansali, CEO, Finance, Strategy & Business Development and CFO, Emami Ltd.

Aggressive growth

The Man Company witnessed de-growths in sales for both fourth quarter and the last financial year. “We think now The Man Company will give aggressive growth. We expect this brand to witness around 25-30 per cent growth this fiscal year because it is a very nascent industry. As this is a premium male grooming brand, mainly metro cities are its market,” Bhansali told businessline.

The company’s ayurvedic hair care brand Kesh King delivered a flattish sales growth in the fourth quarter after registering a de-growth in the third quarter this fiscal.

The Kesh King range declined by 10 per cent in the third quarter and 12 per cent in the first nine months of the current financial year due to competitive pressures and category challenges. The company hired BCG to revive the brand.

“We expect to execute the strategy of BCG for Kesh King from the second half of this fiscal. It will be a 360-degree strategy,” Bhansali said.

The newly repositioned Smart and Handsome brand posted a 7 per cent y-o-y growth in Q4FY24.

The FMCG maker in January this year announced a rebranding of its major male grooming brand “Fair and Handsome” to “Smart And Handsome” to address the consumers preference for “redefining fairness” and tapping into almost all segments of the highly-growing market.

“As now the market for Smart And Handsome has become bigger, we are looking to introduce more products over a period of time,” Bhansali said.

“So after a long time we have seen some momentum in Smart and Handsome. You guys know that this brand was continuously declining. And post the relaunch, we have arrested the de-growth. We are yet to see double digit growth, what is targeted… this is a male grooming segment, it’s not just the cream and the face wash. So you would see very extensive male grooming products coming under Smart and Handsome. And of course we would see growth in this Smart and Handsome,” said Mohan Goenka, Vice Chairman and Whole-Time Director, Emami Limited, during the investor conference call after the company announced its Q4FY25 results.

The company reported a 10.51 per cent y-o-y increase in its consolidated net profit at ₹162.17 crore in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal, as its revenue grew around 8 per cent y-o-y, backed by strong momentum in core domestic business.

Published on May 20, 2025