(AFP / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)
LVMH is continuing changes in its governance and announced on Thursday a new round of appointments within management, including Cécile Cabanis as financial director, replacing Jean-Jacques Guiony, who takes the helm of the important “Wines and Spirits” division. “.
Alexandre Arnault, one of the sons of CEO Bernard Arnault, becomes deputy general director of this branch, the “MH” of LVMH, the company specifies in a press release.
He is leaving his position as executive vice-president of products, communications and industrial at Tiffany and Co in the United States, a source close to the matter told AFP.
Alexandre Arnault, 32, joined the board of directors of the LVMH group at the same time as his brother Frédéric, 30, in mid-April. They joined their two eldest children, Delphine Arnault, 49 years old, and Antoine Arnault, 47 years old. Jean, the last of five siblings, remains the only one not on the board of directors.
Maud Alvarez-Pereyre, 43, who started as an intern at Parfums Christian Dior and is currently director in charge of talents and transformation of the group, will be appointed director of human resources as of December 1, to succeed Chantal Gaemperle, ” layoff” a week ago according to the media La Lettre.
The group formalized Wednesday evening in a brief press release the departure of Ms. Gaemperle, director of human resources and synergies for 17 years.
The specialized media revealed that Chantal Gaemperle, 62, had “been laid off with a view to her dismissal”, following an internal investigation. According to him, this layoff “comes after an internal investigation lasting several months carried out by the general administration and legal affairs teams”, who were “particularly interested in the accumulation of benefits in kind received from the 75 houses of the group” (Louis Vuitton, Dior, Moët Hennessy…).
A source close to the matter told AFP on Thursday that these are “extremely serious facts affecting ethics and justifying his immediate departure.”
– Succession –
Philippe Schaus, current CEO of the Wines and Spirits branch to which the Moët & Chandon, Hennesy and Veuve Clicquot brands belong, after 21 years within the group, “wishes to evolve towards a new phase of his career, oriented towards roles not executives”.
Charles Delapalme, 51, will become CEO of the Hennessy brand and succeeds Laurent Boillot, “whose new functions will be communicated later”.
These appointments, marked by rejuvenation and “internal promotions”, are in addition to several changes in the governance of the world number one luxury brand.
At the end of October, the CEO of the “selective distribution” division, which includes Sephora, Le Bon Marché, la Samaritaine and the luxury giant's “duty free” activity, Chris de Lapuente, also a member of the executive committee, notably took his retirement.
Guillaume Motte, 53, CEO of Sephora, will become a member of the group's executive committee as of February 1, LVMH announced Thursday.
“Currently, investors are very curious about all the management changes that have taken place within the group” which today manages nearly a hundred brands (Vuitton, Dior, Celine, Moët, Hennessy, Krug, Sephora, Tiffany…) wrote the HSBC bank in a note at the end of October.
According to the investment bank, “optimists” will see this as “succession planning” which “seems to be thought out years in advance”. The “pessimists”, according to HSBC, “will focus on changes affecting certain key assets”, and “wonder who is flying the plane”.
The subject of the succession of Bernard Arnault, 75 years old, is officially not on the agenda. The age limit for LVMH's CEO has been raised from 75 to 80, allowing its CEO to stay in charge longer.
Bernard Arnault can also remain president of the Christian Dior SE holding company which controls the LVMH group until the age of 80.
The world number one luxury brand is affected, like its competitors, by the global slowdown in demand and saw its sales decline in the third quarter by 4.4% to 19 billion euros after a previous decline in sales in the first half.
