Ferragamo shares slid more than 5% on Tuesday after the Italian luxury group announced that its chief executive Marco Gobbetti would leave next month after little over three years in charge.
Gobbetti, the former chief of British brand Burberry, had been attempting to turn around the Florentine brand but progress had been slower than hoped.
“While waiting for more clarity on the new phase of the relaunch, we see potential negative implications in the short term, also considering that the transition phase could also involve the creative team and part of the top management,” analysts at Italian broker Equita said in their daily note.
They added that Gobbetti’s exit could be the consequence of results that fell below expectations and the delay in the brand’s revival compared to initial objectives.
Gobbetti joined the group at the beginning of 2022 and promised a quick turnaround. However, last year he warned that hitting turnaround goals could take longer than anticipated. Briton Maximilian Davis was hired as creative director in 2022 shortly after Gobbetti took charge of the company.
Ferragamo, controlled by the family of late founder Salvatore Ferragamo, said on Monday it had started the search for a new CEO, who will be in charge of “continuing the activities of brand renewal and heritage enhancement”.
Shares in Ferragamo were down 4.64% at 0935 GMT. In the last year, the shares lost around 38% of their value and hit a record low at the beginning of December.
“We think his departure could potentially be seen as a small positive by the market, as the brand has been underperforming the sector over the past few years,” analysts at Barclays said.
Estee Lauder on Tuesday expanded its restructuring plan that would include up to 7,000 job cuts and posted smaller-than-expected drop in second-quarter sales. Shares of the company, which fell about 49% last year, were marginally down in premarket trading.
The company said that the expanded plan is to help Estee Lauder return to sales growth and restore a solid double-digit adjusted operating margin over the next few years along with the aim to “manage external volatility, such as potential tariff increases globally.”
As part of its turnaround efforts to drive profit recovery, the company has been implementing restructuring programs, which include a series of changes in the executive team after Stéphane de La Faverie took on the role of Chief Executive Officer in January.
Estee Lauder expects to take restructuring and other charges of between $1.2 billion and $1.6 billion, before taxes, consisting of employee-related costs, contract terminations, asset write-offs, and other costs associated with implementing these initiatives.
The company’s sales fell 6% to $4 billion in the quarter, compared with analysts’ estimates of 7.3% drop to $3.97 billion, as per data compiled by LSEG.
The pressure on British consumers eased a little in January as a step-up in supermarket promotions meant grocery inflation edged lower following four straight months of rises, industry data showed on Tuesday.
Market researcher Kantar said annual grocery price inflation was 3.3% in the four weeks to Jan. 26, down from 3.7% in last month’s report. Sales rose 4.3% over the period year-on-year.
Kantar said the fall in inflation reflected an increased level of promotions from supermarkets. They rose year-on-year by GBP274 million ($340 million), accounting for 27.2% of sales – the highest level in January since 2021.
The researcher said prices are rising fastest in products such as chocolate confectionery, chilled smoothies and juices, and butters and spreads, and are falling fastest in cooking sauces, household paper products and cat food.
Despite the January fall in food inflation, supermarkets have warned that tax rises in the new Labour government’s first budget in October, together with another hike in the national minimum wage, will be inflationary.
Prominent grocery industry researcher, the Institute of Grocery Distribution has forecast that food inflation could hit nearly 4.9% this year.
Kantar noted that consumers turned to non-branded products to help keep costs down, with own-label as a proportion of total sales hitting a record high of 52.3% in January.
Online supermarket Ocado was Britain’s fastest-growing grocer for the ninth consecutive month, with sales up 11.3% year-on-year over the 12 weeks to Jan. 26.
Market leader Tesco gained the most share, with its 28.5% share some 70 basis points higher year-on-year, on sales up 5.6%. Sales at No. 2 Sainsbury’s rose 4.2%.
Shares in Tesco were up 1%, Sainsbury’s was up 2.1%, while Ocado was up 1.6%. No. 3 Asda remained the laggard, with sales down 5.2% and a 1-percentage-point loss of market share over the year. Last week Asda’s new boss Allan Leighton launched a major round of price cuts in an attempt to kick start a recovery. Kantar noted that Marks & Spencer also performed well, with sales up 10.5%, though the researcher does not include the retailer in its market share data. Shares in M&S were up 2.3%.
Premium British womenswear label Saint + Sofia wants to open a raft of UK stores after finding success with its first location, which opened last autumn in the Seven Dials area of London’s Covent Garden.
Operating in the same niche that has seen Me+Em and Mint Velvet finding success, it’s aiming for 10 new locations, although it won’t be opting for a mad dash for growth. We should see two new sites in London this year and 10 in total over the next two years with Cambridge, Glasgow, somewhere in Surrey, Leeds, other key cities and “neighbourhood” towns, also on the hit list, The Times reported.
For London, that means affluent neighbourhoods such as Marylebone, Richmond, Chelsea and Hampstead Heath that are on so many premium retailers wish lists.
The company told the newspaper that its Monmouth Street store, which opened in November, has “exceeded expectations” for the formerly-online-only label.
Saint + Sofia was founded by Dessislava and Malcolm Bell during the pandemic and has grown fast, selling “fair, sustainable fashion” that’s inspired by the arts and pop culture.
Profitable since launch, they told the newspaper they’re targeting revenue of £40 million for the year to December, up from £25 million the year before.
As mentioned, the company isn’t targeting the kind of ultra-fast growth that could be hard for a still-small business to manage and aims to continue being self-funded with no plans to find external investment.