Godfrey Phillips appoints Siddharth Chawla as COO

Godfrey Phillips India annouced that its nomination and remuneration committee has approved the appointment of Siddharth Chawla as chief operating officer (COO) and senior management personnel of the company.

The date of appointment is 7 January 2025 or such other date as may be mutually decided.

Chawla brings nearly 24 years of experience across senior management and leadership roles. He started his career with the FMCG major ITC as a management trainee in 2001 and was its business head for North India when he left it in 2019. Thereafter, he worked for 3 years as business head of non-essentials with the e-commerce unicorn startup Udaan. For the last 2 years, he has been working as Chief Growth Officer with Pharmarack Technologies, Indias largest e-B2B commerce platform for the pharmaceutical industry.

 

In his previous stints, he has successfully developed and transformed go-to-market strategy, established new business systems & processes and supply chain networks, launched multiple new categories & distribution channels while effectively managing large distributed teams in complex business environments and matrix structures.

In a separate filing, the company also informed that its Retail Business Division, as previously communicated to the stock exchanges. The company has ceased the use of the 24Seven trademarks, which were associated with this division. However, a legal claim has been filed by the plaintiffs, seeking payment of royalties along with interest and damages for the use of the trademarks between June 2005 and 31 August 2024.

The plaintiffs have also sought an injunction to prevent the company and its associates from further using the 24Seven trademarks. The company, on its part, believes that no royalty is payable and, based on internal assessments and legal advice, is confident of defending its position. The plaintiffs are seeking an unspecified amount of royalty, equivalent to 7% of the total sales revenue of the Retail Business Division during the period in question, along with 18% annual interest and damages amounting to Rs 2 crore. Godfrey Phillips does not anticipate any material financial impact from the claim.

Godfrey Philips has business presence in the manufacturing of cigarettes, chewing products & tobacco products, trading of cigarettes, tobacco products, tea & other retail products, trading & distribution of vaping products, acquisition of securities and real estate development.

The companys consolidated net profit advanced 22.9% to Rs 248.33 crore on 19.3% jumped in net sales to Rs 1,372.86 crore in Q2 FY25 over Q2 FY24.

Shares of Godfrey Philips rose 0.25% to Rs 5,078.45 on the BSE.

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