Kering: Luca de Meo promises swift, "clear and strong" choices to "streamline, reorganise, reposition" certain brands

"The current situation reinforces our determination to act without delay", stated Luca de Meo on Tuesday at the Kering shareholders' meeting, which is to validate his appointment as the group's new chief executive officer. "This will require clear and strong choices." He emphasised the need "to continue deleveraging and, where necessary, streamline, reorganise and reposition some of our brands."

"Obviously, this is not the time to detail our future strategic plan, which I will construct with the teams for a spring 2026 presentation", indicated De Meo, who will take up his duties on September 15.

The future chief executive officer acknowledged that "these decisions will not always be easy. But we will make them with lucidity, high standards and a sense of responsibility incumbent upon our role as leaders, guardians of a precious heritage and a future that we must continue to develop."

"We will be swift, efficient and decisive. We will consolidate the foundations of the house and build an even more integrated, more agile luxury group, driven by a reinforced spirit of conquest." De Meo added, "This will undoubtedly involve efforts from everyone: management; employees; our partners; our suppliers; and also a little trust from you, the shareholders."

A few minutes earlier, François-Henri Pinault, who will retain the chairmanship of Kering, described De Meo as "a strategist, a builder and a man who understands brands. He is someone very attentive to the importance of creation and who perfectly understands what a house, a style or a heritage represents." Pinault declared himself "convinced that he will know how to develop" what the group has "built."

The 58-year-old Italian executive will have to turn around Kering, which in July announced a 46 percent drop in its first-half net profit to 474 million euros and a 16 percent plunge in its revenue to 7.6 billion euros.

"I am well aware that over the past two years, we have encountered significant difficulties, but everything is being done today to be able to rebound", Pinault said during the shareholder question-and-answer session.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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