Richemont has installed new chief executives at its jewellery brands Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, as the Swiss luxury group confronts succession planning and an industry-wide downturn. Louis Ferla, current head of Richemont’s luxury watchmaker Vacheron Constantin, will replace Cyrille Vigneron, who has led Cartier for eight years. Cartier’s jewellery and watch sales are the largest contributors to Richemont’s revenue and profit and the new appointment, which will be effective from September, is the latest in a series of management changes at the group.
Richemont chair Johann Rupert overhauled leadership of the wider group in May in a bid to streamline decision making. Industry insiders say the reshuffle is also a way for 74-year-old Rupert, who founded the group in 1988 and is its controlling shareholder, to give investors a taste of what a generational transition could look like. Although Rupert has no plans to step down, he has no clear successor among his three children.
Like others in the luxury sector including LVMH, Richemont is grappling with the question of who will take the reins of the group after the founder’s retirement. Nicolas Bos, who previously headed Van Cleef & Arpels, Richemont’s second-biggest jewellery brand, became chief executive in an expanded version of the role and is set to take a board seat in September. Richemont announced on Tuesday (Jul 2) that Catherine Rénier, currently chief executive of Jaeger-LeCoultre, will succeed Bos at Va.
