L’Occitane is renewing its leadership. The cosmetics group, which owns brands such as Sol de Janeiro and its eponymous brand, has announced the departure of its CEO Laurent Marteau.
Marteau left the group on September 16 to be able to “focus on other professional interests”. The group confirmed that it had no disagreements with the board of directors, just as the decision is not related to the Hong Kong stock exchange delisting.
For the time being, the Board of Directors has appointed Reinold Geiger (Group President), Samuel Antunes (Group Chief Financial Officer) and Ingo Dauer (Group Legal Director) to fill the executive’s position on an interim basis until L’Occitane finds a replacement.
Laurent Marteau holds a degree in Mathematics and Economics and a Master’s degree in Sales and Marketing. The executive began his career at Dior as director of sales and marketing development. and went through different positions in the company until becoming the director of travel retail for Emea. In 2010, he made the leap to LVMH as director of travel retail on a global scale and, in 2014, he joined La Prairie Group as Vice President for Emea, until he left the group in 2022 to begin his journey with L’Occitane.
L’Occitane has appointed members of the top management as replacements for Marteau
The executive’s departure comes after L’Occitane announced its exit from the stock market in July, which became effective on August 7 after ceasing to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.At the end of April, Reinold Geiger, the largest shareholder in L’Occitane, began a process to acquire the 27.4% of the company that it did not already control for a total of 1.7 billion euros.
In this operation, Geiger had the support of Blackstone. In a statement, the manufacturer of Sol de Janeiro and L’Occitane en Provence said that it received the approval of the operation from 91.97% of investors, exceeding the minimum required to continue with the privatization of L’Occitane.
The company was founded in 1976 and went public in 2010.. The company currently has more than 3,000 stores in more than ninety countries. L’Occitane ended the 2023 financial year with higher profits, driven by the performance of its Sol de Janeiro line. The company’s net income, however, suffered. The company’s sales rose by 19.1% at the end of the financial year (ending March 31), reaching 2.542 billion euros. The group’s profits, however, decreased compared to the previous year, to 101.8 million euros, a decrease of 13.9%.
