Italy's Benetton plans restructuring as losses mount, sources say
27/05/2024 15:38
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Benetton set to part company with CEO Renon
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Expected to report 2023 loss of around 230 million euros
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Family expected to exert more control over business
By Elisa Anzolin
MILAN, May 27 (Reuters) - Italy's Benetton family is
readying plans to address mounting losses at its eponymous
clothing retailer, including parting ways with CEO Massimo Renon
after four years, two people close to the group said on Monday.
The board of the clothing group is expected to meet on
Tuesday to discuss a net loss of around 230 million euros ($250
million) for 2023 which includes impairments, a source with
knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
That compares with a net loss of 81 million euros in 2022,
when revenues totalled 1 billion euros.
Benetton shareholders are then scheduled to meet on June 18,
at which time Renon's CEO mandate will not be renewed, the two
sources said.
Renon, who built his career in the eyewear industry working
at Luxottica, Safilo and Marcolin, declined to comment.
The Benettons own the clothing group made famous by its
colourful jumpers and provocative advertising campaigns through
their Edizione holding company.
Edizione is preparing to back a restructuring of the
clothing retailer and to inject 260 million euros, one of the
sources said, adding that Edizione would exert closer control
over the group.
Benetton has struggled to withstand growing competition from
fast-fashion giants such as Zara owner Inditex ITX.MC which
have developed a nimbler production and distribution model, able
to more quickly respond to consumers' changing tastes.
In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera
on Saturday, Chairman Luciano Benetton, one of its founders,
said the group had been expected to break even in 2023 under a
three-year strategic plan, but a worse than expected financial
situation had emerged in recent months.
Luciano Benetton told Corriere that current management, led
by Renon, had surprised the board by unveiling a "dramatic"
shortfall.
Founded in 1965 by Italy's Benetton family as a clothing
manufacturer, Benetton expanded to trade through around 4,000
shops globally, according to its website. After listing the
group in Milan in 1986, the Benettons took it private in 2012,
the last year in which it made a profit.
($1 = 0.9209 euros)
(Reporting by Elisa Anzolin; Editing by Valentina Za, Matt
Scuffham and Jan Harvey)
((elisa.anzolin@thomsonreuters.com; 0039 0266129692;))