After almost eight years as managing director of multi-format retail company Shoppers Stop Ltd, B S Nagesh is moving into a non-executive position as vice-chairman of the company, as part of succession planning within the retail business of the K Raheja Corp, led by Chandru L Raheja.
Current chief executive Govind Shrikhande will take over from Nagesh as president and CEO of the company. Nagesh will also continue to be on the board of the company, as non-executive director. Nagesh will play the role of strategic advisor to the management of Shoppers Stop. He will also be mentor to the management team, a release from the company said.
The appointment will take effect from August 18 and there will not be any managing director’s position henceforth, which will be looked after by Shrikhande, Nagesh told this newspaper.
“All this is part of succession planning within the group. We have to continuously see there are CEOs and MDs in the making and talents to run the company,’’ Nagesh said.
He will also continue to be the chairman of the board of Crossword Bookstores Ltd. Nagesh is also the vice chairman of Hypercity Retail (India) Ltd, which runs hyperstores in the country.
Overall, the chairman is Chandru L Raheja, while his sons Ravi C Raheja and Neel C Raheja are also on the board. However, the company is professionally managed by the executives.
Sources in the group said Nagesh wanted to devote more time for his personal life and to social service and, hence, the changes. Nagesh was the first employee of the company involved with the set up and operations of Shoppers Stop, for the past 19 years, the release said.
Shrikhande has been with Shopper’s Stop for the past eight years and became CEO three years earlier.
In another development, rating firm Fitch affirmed its ‘F1’ rating to Shoppers Stop Ltd’s Rs 30 crore short-term debt programme and its Rs 50 crore commercial programme, indicating improved profitability despite a challenging economic environment which has resulted in lower top line performance.
Shoppers Stop turned profitable in the first quarter of 2009-10, after posting a loss over Rs 63 crore in 2008-09. However, same-store growth in the company further dipped to 7.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2009-10, as consumers continued to spend less on lifestyle and luxury items to beat the slowdown.
