ITALY. Eraldo Poletto, CEO of Florentine luxury goods house Salvatore Ferragamo, is to step down in a mutually agreed move after less than two years in the role.
Poletto joined Ferragamo in August 2016 after a successful 6-year stint as CEO of Furla. He will leave the listed company on 8 March when the Board of Directors meets to approve its 2017 financial statement.
A successor was not named in an announcement released after markets closed on Tuesday 27 February.
The company expressed its “most vivid appreciations” to Poletto for having contributed to the start of a new chapter in the company’s history.
Poletto’s contribution was characterised by “a great dynamism, an important digital breakthrough and a special attention to the brand and to the product [which was] manifested during the recent Milan fashion shows”, the company stated.
Despite a reboot of its business model, the latest set of preliminary annual results from Ferragamo shows the company has struggled. Group consolidated revenue dropped -3.1% to €1.39 billion (US$1.72 billion) in 2017.
The wholesale channel – encompassing travel retail – saw a decrease of -7.4%. The company claims to have the largest duty free and travel retail network among its peers.
Ferragamo said it suffered from “de-stocking activity, the political tensions in South Korea, and a strategic rationalisation in Japan”.
