Richemont names Nicholas Bos as CEO

Luxury goods business Richemont re-established the role of chief executive officer on Friday as the Swiss group continues to navigate a market downturn.

Richemont tapped Nicolas Bos, the head of its jewellery brand Van Cleef & Arpels, to take up the role on 1 June, reporting to chairman Johann Rupert to help "streamline decision making and optimise operational management".

Rupert said: "I'm not stepping back, but I'm asking Nicolas to assume some of the direct line reporting that I used to execute that I thought was cumbersome".

The move comes after Richemont posted a slowdown in sales during Q4, with revenues growing just 2% at constant exchange rates to CHF 4.8bn ($4.17bn), ahead of expectations. While its performance in Asia, excluding Japan, was weaker, with sales falling 12%, other regions including Europe, the US, Japan and the Middle East saw sales accelerate in the quarter. Sales at its jewellery brands, its biggest division were up 3%.

Full-year sales of CHF 20.6bn (£17.9bn) grew 8% constant exchange rates, though group underlying earnings of CHF 4.7bn (£4.08bn) came in below expectations.

As of 1015 BST, Richemont shares were up 4.73% at CHF 143.95 each.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com