Lalit Naik appointed new MD of Aditya Birla Nuvo

Lalit Naik, will takeover as the new Managing Director of Aditya Birla Nuvo (ABNL), replacing Rakesh Jain as his term expires on

June 30. Naik’s appointment will be subject to shareholder approval. Naik currently heads the chemicals, fertilisers and insulator businesses of the Aditya Birla Group and is the Deputy Managing Director of ABNL since January 2013. In May, ABNL reported an 11 percent drop in fourth quarter profit, mainly on account of higher tax and finance expenses.

ABNL is the largest branded apparel retailer in India with annual revenue of Rs 6,000 crores owing to its Madura Garments portfolio, which dominates the men’s formalwear market, and Pantaloon Retail, which is mainly into women’s value retail. Despite owning a number of capital-guzzling businesses ranging from retail to financial services, ABNL has managed to restructure its balance-sheet to reduce debt in the last three years. Its net debt-to-equity ratio stood at a modest 0.6 times as of end-December 2013.