Indian beauty products retailer Nykaa posts near three-fold jump in Q4 profit

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's FSN E-Commerce Ventures, parent of online beauty products seller Nykaa, reported a nearly three-fold jump in quarterly net profit attributable to shareholders on Wednesday as consumers were drawn to the heavy discounts it offered.

The company also announced an investment of up to 200 million rupees ($2.4 million) in unit FSN International, which is an international exporter and retailer of beauty and personal care (BPC) products.

Consolidated net profit attributable to shareholders rose to 69.3 million rupees in the quarter ended March 31 from 24.1 million rupees a year ago.

Nykaa's end-of-season sales and the ‘Pink Love Sale’ offered ahead of Valentine's Day fuelled volumes, the company said in its quarterly update.

Affluent consumers also showed a preference for luxury makeup and fragrances from brands such as Estee Lauder, Bobbi Brown and Dior, which helped drive the 28% increase in revenue at 16.68 billion rupees.

Nykaa's BPC segment, the biggest in terms of revenue contribution, saw a 30% rise in gross merchandise value (GMV) - the monetary value of all its orders.

Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin expanded to 5.6% from 5.4% a year ago, while overall GMV rose 28% to 124.46 billion rupees.

Its fashion segment, which sells accessories and apparel, saw a 27% increase in GMV, as Nykaa continued to push out premium clothing.

Additionally, FSN E-Commerce's board approved the acquisition of the western wear and accessories business of Nykaa Fashion for 1.34 billion rupees. It also gave the go-ahead to the merger of Iluminar Media, a lifestyle, food and shopping website, into Nykaa Fashion.

Nykaa's shares closed 1% higher ahead of results.

($1 = 83.2717 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng)