Honasa Consumer

** Shares of Honasa Consumer HONA.NS fall 2.99% to 452.30 rupees

** Stock falls on media reports that 14 million shares, or about 4.4% of Honasa's equity, changed hands in a block deal

** Shares changed hands at an average price of 450 rupees apiece, valuing the transaction at about 6.43 billion rupees ($66.89 million), CNBC-TV18 reports

** NDTV Profit reports, citing sources, that Peak XV Partners, Sequoia Capital Global Growth Fund III and Redwood Trust were the likely sellers in the block deal

** Honasa, Peak XV, Sequoia and Redwood Trust did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment

** HONA rated "buy" on avg by 15 analysts, median PT at 560 rupees, according to LSEG-compiled data

** YTD, Honasa stock up 58.31%

($1 = 96.1250 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru)

(([email protected] | X: https://twitter.com/SurbhiMisra_ |;))

Honasa Consumer called off its proposed acquisition of a 58% equity stake in Fluence Pharma Private Limited after closing conditions under the share-purchase agreement were not fulfilled. The transaction had been announced on June 23 and was subject to completion of conditions precedent. Honasa said it remained committed to its nutraceutical strategy and would continue evaluating organic and inorganic opportunities in the category. Honasa reported standalone revenue of ₹2,305 crore in FY26, with skincare accounting for about 60% of its business.

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Aug 25 (Reuters) - Honasa Consumer Ltd HONA.NS:

• CALLS OFF PROPOSED ACQUISITION OF FLUENCE PHARMA DUE TO NON-FULFILMENT OF CONDITIONS

Source text: ID:nNSE75zkmS

Further company coverage: HONA.NS

(([email protected];))

** Shares of India's Honasa Consumer HONA.NS rise as much as 4.6% to 501.60 rupees, highest level since September 2024

** HONA last up 2.2%

** Beauty and personal care company on Thursday said first-quarter profit more than doubled y/y; rev from ops up 27% y/y

** JPMorgan ("underweight", PT 410 rupees) says rev growth largely volume-led, adds consistent execution is key watch-item in more competitive landscape

** Jefferies ("buy", PT 650 rupees) says EBITDA margin expanded to multi-quarter high, led by better mix, operating leverage and seasonality

** More than 8 mln shares change hands by 9:58 AM, more than 8.5x the 30-day avg

** HONA on avg rated "buy" by 13 analysts; median PT is 500 rupees - LSEG data

** Stock up 71.2% YTD

(Reporting by Abhirami G in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

Aug 13 (Reuters) - Honasa Consumer Ltd HONA.NS:

• HONASA CONSUMER Q1 CONSOL NET PAT 902.5 MILLION RUPEES

• HONASA CONSUMER Q1 CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 7.56 BILLION RUPEES

Further company coverage: HONA.NS

(([email protected];))

June 23 (Reuters) - Honasa Consumer Ltd HONA.NS:

• HONASA CONSUMER- APPROVED ACQUISITION OF FLUENCE PHARMA PRIVATE LIMITED

• HONASA CONSUMER- WILL ACQUIRE 58% STAKE OF FLUENCE PHARMA FOR 1.35 BILLION RUPEES EMTERPRISE VALUE

Source text: ID:nnAZN4T3RA3

Further company coverage: HONA.NS

(([email protected];))

June 12 - ** Shares of India's Honasa Consumer HONA.NS rise as much as 2% to 422.6 rupees, stock last up 0.5%

** If gains hold, stock will post a fourth straight session of rise

** Co plans to focus on core personal care, beauty categories where its brands are seeing recovery helped by strong distribution channels, Kotak says after investor day

** To support growth, co looking to move beyond online-first, direct-to-consumer channels and expand into traditional and large-scale retail formats to broaden customer base

** JP Morgan notes that execution of HONA's growth plans will be critical, given competitive beauty and personal care segment amid D2C peers competing for the same consumer occasions

** Kotak says co appears well-positioned to drive growth across its existing brands while expanding to new categories such as nutraceuticals, fragrances

** 8 out of 12 brokerages rate HONA "buy" or higher, median PT 462 rupees - LSEG-compiled data

** YTD, stock up 46.31%

(Reporting by Saikeerthi in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; (+91) 8296756080))

** Shares of beauty and personal care products maker Honasa Consumer HONA.NS rise as much as 5.7% to 438.35 rupees, last up 1.4%

** CLSA raises PT to 462 rupees from 434 rupees, maintains 'outperform' rating

** Says HONA said it expects FY31 sales to be over 55 bln rupees ($575.4 mln), with over 15% EBITDA margin

** HONA's FY26 revenue was 23.92 bln rupees, EBITDA margin was 9.3%

** "Five-year targets imply industry-leading growth in both revenues and EBITDA" - Jefferies

** Co's said aim likely to be achieved via improved innovation accuracy, product superiority, personalised and user-generated content-led communication, leveraging AI - Emkay Research

** Antique Stock Broking says co sees large headroom for growth with several subcategories to enter within industry

** YTD, HONA up about 47% vs 7.2% fall in Nifty 500 index .NIFTY500

($1 = 95.5850 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Vijay Malkar)

(([email protected];))

** Honasa Consumer HONA.NS shares jump as much as 10.4% to 398 rupees, their highest level since Nov 2024

** Personal care co forecast high-teens revenue growth with 100-bp annual EBITDA expansion

** EBITDA margin rose to 9.7% in FY26 vs 3.3% in FY25

** HONA's younger brands like Derma Co, Aqualogica and Dr. Sheth's rev expanded 40% y/y in fiscal 2026

** Jefferies ("Buy", hikes PT to 565 from 500 rupees) says Honasa is firmly on strong growth path

** Citi ("Sell", hikes PT to 320 from 285 rupees) will watch out for the pace of margin expansion, with need for reinvestment

** 12 analysts rate stock "hold" on avg; median PT 385 rupees - LSEG-compiled data

** YTD, HONA up about 37%

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru)

(([email protected];))

May 15 (Reuters) - Honasa Consumer Ltd HONA.NS:

• HONASA CONSUMER - ARBITRAL TRIBUNAL PASSES FINAL AWARD IN FAVOUR OF HONASA CONSUMER LIMITED ON MAY 14, 2026

• HONASA CONSUMER - ARBITRAL AWARD OF AED 7 MILLION AND 7.7 MILLION RUPEES GRANTED TO CO

Source text: ID:nNSE2PFwLP

Further company coverage: HONA.NS

(([email protected];))

April 9 (Reuters) - Honasa Consumer Ltd HONA.NS:

• EXPECTS Q4 FY26 GROWTH IN LATE TWENTIES PERCENT RANGE

• REPORTED Q4 FY26 GROWTH EXPECTED IN EARLY TWENTIES PERCENT RANGE

• MAMAEARTH EXPECTED TO DELIVER TEENS PERCENT GROWTH IN Q4 FY26

• EXPECT BUSINESS TO SUSTAIN ITS OVERALL OPERATING PROfiT MARGIN PROfiLE IN Q4 FY26

Source text: ID:nBSE3JYYTv

Further company coverage: HONA.NS

(([email protected];))

By Praveen Paramasivam

Feb 13 (Reuters) - Indian personal care company Honasa Consumer HONA.NS expects revenue growth above market expectations for fiscal 2027, its CEO told Reuters, led by a sustained recovery in its flagship Mamaearth brand while exploring acquisitions in new categories.

Mamaearth, which Ambit Capital says accounts for over half of Honasa's topline, had struggled to grow in 2024 and 2025 due to shifting consumer preferences, with executives noting that they needed to refresh its products, prices and marketing.

Launched in 2016, the brand grew popular for its range of "toxin-free" mom-and-baby products such as face washes, shampoos and hair oils.

Honasa, in an investor presentation in November, said the unit's growth was "back in the green" in the September quarter with the launch of new products, while its Rice Facewash hit 1 billion rupees ($11.02 million) in annual recurring revenue.

For the December quarter, Mamaearth reported growth in the double-digit percentage range.

Honasa now aims to grow its overall revenue in the high-teen percentage range for fiscal 2027, CEO and co‑founder Varun Alagh said on Thursday. Analysts project growth of 15%, according to data compiled by LSEG.

On Thursday, it reported consolidated profit of 502 million rupees for the December quarter, nearly double year-on-year, with revenue from operations climbing 16% to 6.02 billion rupees.

Shares traded 3% higher on Friday, putting the company's market capitalisation at more than 100 billion rupees.

ACQUISITION BLUEPRINT

Honasa is also banking on continued acquisitions to fuel further growth, a strategy it kicked off after it pivoted from being a single-brand company in 2020.

Dealmaking in India's consumer goods and retail sector hit a four‑year high in January–September by number of deals, per investment bank Equirus Capital, with consumer majors such as Marico MRCO.NS and Hindustan Unilever HLL.NS announcing more personal‑care acquisitions since.

Honasa, which has eight brands in its kitty, will pursue acquisitions in fragrance and nutrition‑oriented "inside‑out" beauty categories if suitable targets emerge, or build such brands, Alagh said.

Last month, it completed the acquisition of a men's personal‑care brand for nearly 2 billion rupees. Currently, it has no immediate transactions in the works and has no fixed size threshold for potential targets, according to Alagh.

($1 = 90.7275 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

(([email protected]; +91 867-525-3569;))

Feb 12 (Reuters) - Honasa Consumer Ltd HONA.NS:

• Q3 CONSOL NET PAT 502 MILLION RUPEES

• Q3 CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 6.02 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nnAZN4SGB4P

Further company coverage: HONA.NS

(([email protected];))

** Shares of Honasa Consumer HONA.NS rise 5.7% to 292 rupees, highest in a month

** Co's promoter Varun Alagh raises stake in co, buys 1.9 mln shares in a bulk deal at 270 rupees/shr

** Promoters are large shareholders with management control

** Bulk deal executed at a 0.58% premium to Friday's closing price

** Stake buy worth about 500 million rupees ($5.56 million)- according to Reuters calculations

** Shares sold by Fireside Ventures Investment Fund, which held a 1.93% stake in co as of Sept 30

** Varun Alagh held a 31.88% stake in co as of Sept 30

** HONA rated "buy" on avg by 12 analysts covering it; median PT at 320 rupees - data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, HONA up 15%

($1 = 89.8820 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Komal Salecha)

(([email protected];))

** Honasa Consumer HONA.NS rises 2.5% to 262.75 rupees

** Indian personal care co and Mamaearth parent buys men's premium personal care brand Reginald Men for 1.95 bln rupees ($21.6 mln)

** Says men's personal care market expected to double to 400 bln rupees by 2032, per Imarc Research

** JPMorgan ("underweight"; PT is 260 rupees), CLSA ("outperform"; PT is 255 rupees) say acquisition complements co's existing portfolio

** Stock rated "buy" on avg; median PT is 320 rupees, per data compiled by LSEG

** More than 3.2 mln shares traded, more than 2.5x the 30-day avg

** YTD, HONA gains 2.8%

(Reporting by Abhirami G in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

By Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra

BENGALURU, Oct 15 (Reuters) - At a startup office in this Indian city, developers are fine-tuning artificial-intelligence chatbots that talk and message like humans.

The company, LimeChat, has an audacious goal: to make customer-service jobs almost obsolete. It says its generative AI agents enable clients to slash by 80% the number of workers needed to handle 10,000 monthly queries.

"Once you hire a LimeChat agent, you never have to hire again," Nikhil Gupta, its 28-year-old co-founder, told Reuters.

Cheap labor and English proficiency helped make India the world's back office — sometimes at the expense of workers elsewhere. Now, AI-powered systems are subsuming jobs done by headset-wearing graduates in technical support, customer care and data management, sparking a scramble to adapt, a Reuters examination found.

That's driving business for AI startups that help companies slash staffing costs and scale operations — even though many consumers still prefer to deal with a person.

This account of the disruptive changes transforming India's $283 billion IT sector is based on interviews with 30 people, including industry executives, recruiters, workers and current and former government officials. Reuters also visited two AI startups and tested voice and text chatbots that handle increasingly sophisticated customer interactions in human-like ways.

Rather than pump the brakes as the technology threatens jobs built on routine tasks, the country is accelerating, wagering that a let-it-rip approach will create enough new opportunities to absorb those displaced, Reuters found. The outcome of India's gamble carries weight far beyond its borders — a test case for whether embracing AI-driven disruption can elevate a developing economy or render it a cautionary tale.

The global conversational AI market is growing 24% a year and should reach $41 billion by 2030, consultancy Grand View Research estimates.

India — which relies on IT for 7.5% of its GDP — is leaning in. In a February speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said "work does not disappear due to technology. Its nature changes and new types of jobs are created."

Not everyone shares Modi's confidence in India's preparedness. Santosh Mehrotra, a former Indian official and visiting professor at the University of Bath's Centre for Development Studies, criticized the government for a lack of urgency in assessing AI's effects on India's young workforce. "There's no gameplan," he said.

Business process management employs 1.65 million workers in call centers, payroll, and data handling in India. Hiring has plummeted due to increased automation and digitalization, despite rising demand for AI coordinators and process analysts, said Neeti Sharma, CEO of staffing firm TeamLease Digital.

Net headcount in the segment, which represents one-fifth of IT output, grew by fewer than 17,000 workers in each of the past two years, down from 130,000 in 2022-2023 and 177,000 in 2021-2022, TeamLease Digital figures show.

Reuters spoke to three current and five former customer-service workers, who described increasing job insecurity and integration of AI, including tools that suggest responses and bots that handle nearly all routine queries autonomously.

Megha S., 32, was earning $10,000 a year at a Bengaluru-based software solutions provider. She said she was laid off last month, just before India's festive season, as the company moved to implement AI tools to review the quality of sales calls.

"I was told I am the first one who has been replaced by AI," said Megha, who spoke on the condition that her full name and former employer not be identified. "I've not told my parents."

Sumita Dawra, a former labor ministry secretary who oversaw an Indian government taskforce on AI's impact on the workforce before retiring in March, said while the technology offered productivity gains that would lead to new jobs, India could consider stronger social security measures, such as unemployment benefits, to help those displaced during the transition.

However, a senior Indian official told Reuters the government believed AI would ultimately have little impact on overall employment. India's IT and labor ministries, and Modi's office, didn't respond to requests for comment.

AUTOMATION GOLD RUSH

Besides AI, factors clouding the outlook for India's IT sector include U.S. tariffs; a proposal by a U.S. lawmaker for a 25% tax on firms using foreign outsourcing services; and President Trump's $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas, which are widely used by tech firms to sponsor Indian workers.

Investment bank Jefferies predicted in September that India's call centers would face a revenue hit of 50% — and around 35% for other back-office functions — from AI adoption over the next five years.

That would spell near-term job losses in India, which accounts for 52% of the global outsourcing market.

"The biggest impact is going to be on young students coming out of college," said Pramod Bhasin, who in the 1990s established India's first call center with 18 employees for GE Capital, where workstations were partitioned by saris strung from the ceiling.

In the longer run, India could transition from "back office" to the world's "AI factory" by capitalizing on demand for AI engineers and automation deployment, said Bhasin, who went on to found IT services firm Genpact.

One beneficiary of that demand is LimeChat, which Reuters visited in August. Gupta, the co-founder, said his developers and engineers have helped automate 5,000 jobs across India. The company's bots handle 70% of customer complaints for its clients, and it plans to achieve 90-95% within a year, he said.

"If you're giving us 100,000 rupees per month, you are automating the job of at least 15 agents," said Gupta. At that price — about $1,130 — the service costs roughly the same as three customer-care staff, he said.

LimeChat's sales soared to $1.5 million in 2024 from $79,000 two years earlier, regulatory disclosures show. Last year, the firm began integrating Microsoft's Azure language models and algorithms in a partnership to launch a new e-commerce chatbot.

Among Gupta's clients is Indian ayurvedic products firm Kapiva, which has deployed a LimeChat bot for customer interactions over WhatsApp.

Keying in a prompt — "What kind of diet should I have to reduce weight?" — yielded an AI meal-plan creator. A follow-up query in English and Hindi about how a slimming juice differs from another item was also answered, with the chatbot eventually sharing links to Kapiva products with a smiling emoji. Kapiva didn't respond to Reuters questions.

LimeChat's rivals include Reliance RELI.NS, the conglomerate chaired by Mukesh Ambani, which acquired Indian startup Haptik in 2019.

Haptik says it offers "AI agents that deliver human-like customer experiences" that cost $120 and can cut support costs by 30%. Revenue skyrocketed to almost $18 million last year from less than $1 million in 2020, disclosures show.

Haptik promoted a webinar in September by posing the question: "What if you had a full-time employee who never sleeps and costs just 10,000 rupees?"

"We are seeing a huge shift," Haptik product manager Suji Ravi said in the webinar, which Reuters reporters attended. "Brands are not investing in human agents and they want to deploy AI agents."

For LimeChat client Mamaearth, an Indian personal-care brand, the main attraction of AI chatbots is scalability, said Vipul Maheshwari, head of product and analytics at parent firm Honasa Consumer HONA.NS.

"Providing good customer support is make or break for us," he said. "But can we infinitely scale my customer support team? Absolutely not."

The chatbot used by Mamaearth could go beyond simple assistance like order tracking, and help users with queries such as recommending the right products during pregnancy or, in some cases, handle an agitated customer, Maheshwari said.

COFFEE WITH NEHA

The promise and perils of AI are evident at The Media Ant. The Bengaluru-based advertising agency cut 40% of its workforce to about 100 over the past year and vacated space in another building to save on rent, said founder Samir Chaudhary.

The firm eliminated 15 salespeople, replacing them with AI bots that identify leads and send emails to prospective customers, Chaudhary said. A six-member call center was replaced with a voice agent called Neha that speaks in near-flawless, Indian-accented English.

When a Reuters reporter asked Neha about advertising on YouTube, she sought details about the budget and target markets, noted the requirements, and ended the conversation cheerfully: "I will email you the details ... have a great day."

"Ask her out for a coffee and she will laugh it off," Chaudhary said.

Yet the race to embrace AI isn't always smooth for companies.

Take Sweden's Klarna. Chatbots helped the fintech firm cut thousands of jobs last year, but its CEO told Reuters in September the company is now "trying to course correct" and use the technology to improve products rather than reduce costs.

Chatbots have limitations. While most generic e-commerce-related queries posed by a Reuters reporter were handled well by LimeChat bots, some stumped them.

When LimeChat client Knya's bot was asked for proof of its claim that a million medical professionals trust its products, such as its stethoscopes, it replied: "I am sorry, I don't have enough information to answer your question." Knya didn't respond to a request for comment.

Customer surveys show chatbots are still disliked by many.

An August 2024 EY survey of 1,000 Indian consumers found 62% made purchases influenced by AI recommendations, compared with 30% globally. Yet, "the desire for a human connection remains strong," EY noted, with 78% preferring online platforms that provide human support.

LimeChat's Gupta, though, said well-trained AI agents could resolve queries faster than humans. He said many standard bots pass conversations to a human agent when they encounter angry customers: "You need a very small number of people to just handle negative experiences."

FROM JAVA TO AI

In the 1990s and 2000s, India's tech boom fueled rural-to-urban migration. Cities like Bengaluru became outsourcing hubs as domestic firms, including Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS and Wipro WIPR.NS, grew into global juggernauts.

That expansion trickled through to Ameerpet, a Hyderabad neighborhood where university graduates fill classrooms to learn IT skills and earn certifications for tech jobs.

Ameerpet's training centers traditionally offered courses in Microsoft Office and programming languages like Java. Visiting in April, Reuters found these centers are increasingly focused on AI training.

Outside one, Quality Thought, a banner featured a robot overlooking a globe with the letters "AI."

The center was offering a nine-month course in AI data science and prompt engineering for about $1,360, more than double the price of a traditional web-development program.

"Recruiters are asking for students with basic AI skills," staffer Priyanka Kandulapati said. "We are going to streamline our courses even further to suit the demand."

In a discussion with startup founders last month about the pace of change, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, who co-founded Sun Microsystems, offered a stark view of the future for India.

"All IT services will be replaced in the next five years," he said. "It's going to be pretty chaotic."

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi. Additional reporting by Haripriya Suresh and Rishika Sadam in Hyderabad, Jatindra Dash in Bhubaneswar, Saurabh Sharma in Lucknow, Sai Ishwarbharath B in Bengaluru, and Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai. Editing by David Crawshaw.)

(([email protected]; [email protected]))

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own. Refiles to include updated CNBC-TV18 report in context news.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, July 14 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Indian consumers are shaking a global giant awake. Last Thursday, Unilever ULVR.L named Priya Nair CEO of its local unit to replace Rohit Jawa, who will leave at the end of July after completing less than half of his term. The $150 billion maker of Dove soap is struggling to grow in its second-largest market. The new chief’s biggest task is refreshing the unit's stale business.

The management rejig, which fuelled a 5% surge in Hindustan Unilever’s (HUL) HLL.NS shares on Friday, follows a change of guard at the London-headquartered group and years of weak performance at the Indian unit. Over the past two years, HUL's sales grew just 2%, far behind Nestle NEST.NS which managed 9%. This bleak performance is captured in the Mumbai-listed shares. HUL trades at 52 times the unit’s expected earnings for 2025, lagging Nestle India, which trades at 68 times.

There are multiple reasons for this yawning gap. To start, the owner of the Lakme beauty brand is failing to keep up with homegrown challengers like $7 billion Nykaa NYKA.NS and $1 billion Honasa Consumer’s HONA.NS Mamaearth, which offer more differentiated beauty products to the well-heeled and upwardly mobile Indian consumers. At the lower end of the market, private labels are finding favour with shoppers on a budget. HUL reacted to the trend with a new strategy involving a $311 million acquisition of skincare brand Minimalist in January, among other things, but it needs to do more. It could consider adding Temasek-backed fast-growing packaged snacks maker Haldiram's to complement its portfolio. Introducing global brands like Ben & Jerry's ice cream or Maille condiments would offer an easy refresh of its India shelves too.

A shifting market structure has pulled the rug from under the vaunted distribution model of the Brooke Bond tea maker. Urban Indians are increasingly ordering everything from milk to lipstick through apps like Blinkit, backed by $28 billion food delivery champion Eternal ETEA.NS, which offers 10-minute deliveries and a superior product selection. HUL is yet to update its supply chains to keep up with the speedy replenishment this channel demands. This is a problem given this end of the grocery market is growing 70% annually, per Bernstein.

Nair currently presides over Unilever’s beauty business and is an old India hand. That sets her up nicely to tackle the aforementioned issues. And if she manages to revitalise the business, it will also help the larger Unilever group, which owns 62% of the Indian unit. But given how far Unilever's Indian business is lagging, the cleanup will take time.

Follow Shritama Bose on Linkedin and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

Unilever's Indian unit on July 10 said Priya Nair will take charge as its CEO on August 1. Nair currently serves as president of the London-headquartered company's beauty and wellbeing division.

She will take over from Rohit Jawa, who has held the top role at Hindustan Unilever since June 2023. Jawa will leave the group without completing his five-year tenure as CEO of the unit.

Hindustan Unilever's Mumbai-listed shares rose 5% on July 11, following the announcement.

The unit's chief financial officer, Ritesh Tiwari, is likely to step down from the function and be moved to a global role, CNBC-TV18 reported on July 11, citing unnamed sources. The report was later updated to remove the reference on his move to a global role.

(Editing by Aimee Donnellan; Production by Ujjaini Dutta)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/[email protected]))

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services Ltd ZAGG.NS:

• ZAGGLE PREPAID OCEAN SERVICES LTD - ENTERS AGREEMENT WITH HONASA CONSUMER

• ZAGGLE PREPAID OCEAN SERVICES - TO PROVIDE ZOYER PLATFORM TO HONASA CONSUMER

• ZAGGLE PREPAID OCEAN SERVICES LTD - CONTRACT TO BE EXECUTED OVER 36 MONTHS

Source text: ID:nBSE7xXHXT

Further company coverage: ZAGG.NS

(([email protected];))

** Shares of Honasa Consumer HONA.NS rise as much as 8.6% to 222.28 rupees

** Mamaearth's parent reported 0.5% rise in Q3 consol net profit to 260.2 million rupees, rev grew 6% to 5.18 billion rupees

** Q3 EBITDA margin at 5% vs 7.1% a year earlier

** Rev was in-line with slight EBITDA beat; Mamaearth brand declined, while younger brands grew over 30% - Jefferies

** Brokerage Emkay expects Q4 sales growth in high single digit, sees EBITDA pressured by higher advertising, promotion

** More than 3 million shares traded as of 10:13 a.m. IST, 3.8x 30-day moving avg

** Mean rating of stock is 'hold'; median PT is 374 rupees - data compiled by LSEG

** HONA down 19.8% YTD

(Reporting by Meenakshi Maidas in Bengaluru)

(([email protected];))

Feb 12 (Reuters) - Honasa Consumer Ltd HONA.NS:

• DEC-QUARTER CONSOL NET PROFIT 260.2 MILLION RUPEES

• DEC-QUARTER CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 5.18 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: HONA.NS

(([email protected];;))

** Shares of Honasa Consumer HONA.NS rise by an exchange-allowed maximum 10% to 252.65 rupees

** 764,999 shares traded in a block deal on NSE at 9% premium to prev close - LSEG data

** Overall trading vol of 2.9 mln is nearly 2x the 30-day average

** Stock up ~12% this week, set to snap six-week losing run

** HONA down ~36% this month after reporting its first quarterly loss since listing last November

(Reporting by Vijay Malkar)

(([email protected];))

** India's Mamaearth parent Honasa Consumer HONA.NS down ~2% at 233.65 rupees, set for a four-session losing streak

** Stock down about 37% so far this week, on course for its worst week since trading debut in Nov 2023

** The beauty and personal care products retailer posted its first quarterly loss since listing, triggering a meltdown in its stock and wiping off $415 mln in market value

** Analysts said Q2 results fanned demand and growth worries for Mamaearth, which is also facing stiff competition from larger rival Nykaa FSNE.NS and private players such as Health & Glow

** Moreover, India's biggest retail distributors' association on Tuesday accused HONA of dumping excessive inventory, a significant portion nearing expiry, onto distributors without considering market demand; HONA denied the report terming it "misinformation"

** HONA stock drops ~31% since listing in Nov 2023

(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

By Kashish Tandon and Indranil Sarkar

Nov 19 (Reuters) - Indian skincare firm Mamaearth's parent Honasa Consumer HONA.NS wiped off nearly 35 billion rupees ($414.7 million) in market valuation in two sessions, after a second-quarter loss fanned demand concerns for the beauty products retailer.

The stock touched a record low of 242.35 rupees on Tuesday, and has fallen by about 30% over the last two days. Its market cap has declined to 86 billion rupees.

The sharp selloff was triggered after Honasa posted its first quarterly loss since listing in Nov. 2023 late on Thursday.

It joined a long list of Indian consumer firms such as Hindustan Unilever HLL.NS and Nestle India NEST.NS to report downbeat results this quarter as urban consumers cut spending in the face of high inflation.

A challenging demand scenario and weaker-than-expected performance has hurt the company, analysts at JM Financial said.

Analysts said that Honasa, which competes with larger rival Nykaa FSNE.NS and private players such as Health & Glow, was hurt by stiff competition in India's beauty and personal care industry, whose market size is likely to hit $28 billion by 2025 from $17.8 billion in 2020, per Avendus data.

The competition has forced the company, also known for its brands such as 'The Derma Co' and 'Aqualogica,' to rethink its business strategy, said Arvind Singhal, chairman of consultancy firm Technopak Advisors.

Honasa, which sells its products primarily through online platforms, had said in its post-earnings call that it is planning to scale up its business by shifting its focus more on offline channels.

Analysts at Citi said the move "needs a refresher", and downgraded the stock by two notches to a "sell" from "buy".

The brokerage also cited consumers' shift to more active ingredient-based products from naturals-based products earlier.

At least five analysts downgraded the stock after its results, while nine slashed their price targets, per data compiled by LSEG.

($1 = 84.4000 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon and Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)

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** Shares of Honasa Consumer HONA.NS fall an exchange-allowed maximum of 20% to a record low of 297.3 rupees

** The beauty products retailer posted a consolidated net loss of 185.8 mln rupees ($2.20 mln) vs a profit of 294.4 mlm rupees a year ago; rev from ops down ~7% Y/Y

** Co hurt by inventory correction and bleak demand during the quarter

** Five analysts covering the stock cut stock's PT after results, while avg rating of 12 analysts still at "buy"; median PT is 540 rupees - LSEG data

** Stock down 25% so far this month, on track for biggest monthly fall since listing a year ago

($1 = 84.3850 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru)

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Nov 14 (Reuters) - Honasa Consumer Ltd HONA.NS:

• HONASA CONSUMER SEPT-QUARTER CONSOL NET LOSS AFTER TAX 185.8 MILLION RUPEES

• HONASA CONSUMER SEPT-QUARTER CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 4.62 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE7Dyt5Q

Further company coverage: HONA.NS

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Oct 18 (Reuters) - Honasa Consumer Ltd HONA.NS:

• HONASA CONSUMER - COURT OF APPEAL (DUBAI) PASSED ORDER ON OCT 15 REJECTING APPEALS OF CO

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE5Gmy0S

Further company coverage: HONA.NS

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Oct 9 (Reuters) - Honasa Consumer Ltd HONA.NS:

• HONASA CONSUMER - MAMAEARTH PARTNERS WITH MEESHO TO AMPLIFY REACH IN TIER 3, BEYOND

• HONASA CONSUMER - TARGETS 1 BILLION ARR ON PLATFORM IN NEXT 12 MONTHS

Further company coverage: HONA.NS

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Oct 4 (Reuters) - Honasa Consumer Ltd HONA.NS:

• UPDATE ON ONGOING LITIGATION BETWEEN CO AND RSM GENERAL TRADING LLC

• DUBAI COURT HAS REJECTED GRIEVANCES FILED BY BOTH PARTIES

• DUBAI COURT ORDERED TO ATTACH ASSETS OF CO IN UAE

• DUBAI COURT REFUSED TO CANCEL TRADING LICENSE OF HONASA CONSUMER GENERAL TRADING

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE7FbmsX

Further company coverage: HONA.NS

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Sept 18 (Reuters) - Honasa Consumer Ltd HONA.NS:

• MAMAEARTH STRENGTHENS OFFLINE PRESENCE

• DISTRIBUTION IN CSD CHANNEL UNDER MINISTRY OF DEFENCE NATIONWIDE

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE5Pk556

Further company coverage: HONA.NS

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Sept 12 (Reuters) - Honasa Consumer Ltd HONA.NS:

• PEAK XV PARTNERS INVESTMENTS VI SOLD 12.3 MILLION SHARES OF HONASA CONSUMER VIA BULK DEAL - NSE DATA

Source text for Eikon: [ID:]

Further company coverage: HONA.NS

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