Richemont restructures management team
04/11/2016
Sales in the first six months of the 2016-17 financial year (which ended on September 30) dropped 12.6% to €5.1 billion. This came as a result of a drop in demand in all geographic regions and across all product categories.
Profit for the period was down 51% to €540 milion, which has prompted the group to change the structure of its senior management team.
With the retirements of chief executive officer Richard Lepeu, who will step down in March, and Gary Saage, who will leave his role as chief financial officer in July, Richemont already had some enforced changes to make. It has decided to do away with the role of CEO, preferring instead to spread the workload among more people.
“One individual cannot be held responsible, it’s unfair,” said chairman Johann Rupert. “We will never have a similar CEO again. Now it’s time for us to start looking at another generation.”
The company has chosen to recruit from within. Georges Kern, current CEO of luxury watch manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen, owned by Richemont, will assume the role of head of watchmaking, marketing and digital.
Jérôme Lambert, CEO of luxury goods company Montblanc, another Richemont subsidiary, will be in charge of operations, responsible for central and regional services and all of the product divisions, other than jewellery and watchmaking. Both are newly-created positions.
Burkhart Grund, currently deputy chief financial officer, will take over as chief financial officer when Mr Saage retires.
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