Major brokerages remained bullish on Hindustan Unilever Ltd., as the company announced the departure of Rohit Jawa and the appointment of Priya Nair—the current president of the beauty and wellbeing segment—as the new chief executive officer and managing director.
On Thursday, HUL announced that Rohit Jawa is stepping down as CEO, and Priya Nair will succeed him from Aug. 1. Jawa has served as the CEO of HUL since June 2023.
Nair, who has had a distinguished career at Hindustan Unilever since 1995, is currently Unilever's Global President for beauty and wellbeing. Prior to this role, she was a member of HUL's board, leading home care from 2014 to 2021, and beauty and personal care from 2021 to 2022. Consequently, she has overseen most of HUL's categories, excluding foods.
Macquarie retained an 'outperform' rating for HUL. This change of guard may drive a stronger focus on growth, especially in the beauty segment, according to the brokerage.
"This, along with the parent's disproportionate focus on India, potential tailwinds from input cost deflation, and the gradual demand recovery seen across urban and rural markets drive our OP rating," it added.
The key concerns are the sudden departure of Rohit Jawa and the relatively short period of transition. However, Macquarie gains comfort from Nair's long period of experience in India, where she has been responsible for various initiatives, including rural distribution expansion, brand development and marketing innovation.
Goldman Sachs maintained a 'neutral' rating on HUL. The brokerage anticipates that HUL's volume growth will gradually improve over FY26, driven by an improving macro environment and various growth initiatives in the home care and beauty segments.
"However, HUL's Ebitda growth is expected to be muted, as the company has guided for a 100 basis points decline in margins due to increased marketing expenditure aimed at reviving growth," it added.
Morgan Stanley noted that the leadership change comes as a surprise, with Jawa stepping down after a brief tenure of more than two years—significantly shorter than his predecessors Mehta and Paranjape.
Notably, in February 2025, Unilever PLC announced the stepping down of its then CEO, Hein Schumacher, which was effective May 31, 2025, after being the CEO for more than two years. Fernando Fernandez, then Unilever chief financial officer and executive director, was appointed CEO effective from March 1, 2025.
Investec maintained a 'hold' for the stock, with target at Rs 2,538.
The brokerage noted that HUL has underperformed on volumes and revenues, despite it being termed as a growth market for Unilever. While a leadership transition will be viewed as act to change growth trajectory— and hence positive—visible improvements are not a given in the near term, given the various areas of portfolio attention needed.
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