Richemont has announced that effective April 1, 2010, Johann Rupert will assume the role of CEO, replacing Norbert Platt who will retire at the end of the year for health reasons. Mr. Platt will remain as a director of Compagnie Financière Richemont SA and will act as an advisor to the Group.
Mr Rupert commented as follows:
“Since he took up the role of Chief Executive Officer in 2004, Norbert has achieved remarkable results in terms of building the Group, rationalizing its operations and improving our logistics infrastructure. Over the period we have seen a dramatic growth in sales and profitability at Richemont, even if the crisis of the past year has impacted the luxury goods industry so negatively.
Richemont’s philosophy is that our Maisons should operate largely autonomously, whilst benefiting from the Group’s central and regional support services. In these challenging times, we want to ensure consistency in our management approach. Richemont has strong management in the Maisons, in the regions and in our central functions and I look forward to working more closely with my colleagues.”
The Board of Compagnie Financière Richemont SA has also nominated Lord Renwick of Clifton to assume the role of Lead Independent Director, given the combination of Mr Rupert’s role as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Source: Richemont SA
