Louis Ferla becomes CEO of Richemont’s largest and most lucrative brand

There is another significant change in leadership at the Richemont Group owned by South African billionaire Johann Rupert. After Nicolas Bos was introduced as the new CEO of the entire group in mid-May, the focus is now on the management of the group’s most important brand by far: Cartier.

Richemont announced that Louis Ferla will be the new head of the jewelry and watch brand. Ferla, who has headed the group’s Vacheron Constantin brand for the past seven years, will succeed Cyrille Vigneron, who is stepping down after eight years, at the beginning of September.

Richemont is envied for Cartier

The management of Cartier is just as important for Richemont as the management of the entire group. With an estimated turnover of over 10 billion euros, Cartier is by far the largest and most important brand within Richemont – a “jewel” that the group is envied by its competitors.

Bernard Arnault, the head of the luxury goods group LVMH, is said to have ambitions to take over Cartier. This is why there is regular speculation in the media. It was recently rumored that Arnault had privately invested in Richemont. However, Rupert, who controls 51 percent of Richemont’s shares, has repeatedly made it clear that neither Cartier nor Richemont as a whole are for sale.

From the outside, there are no reasons for a sale. Despite a slight slowdown in the industry, business is going well: In the last financial year, which ended at the end of March, Richemont increased its sales by 3 percent to 20.6 billion euros; net profit was 2.4 billion euros.

As long as Cartier is well managed, nothing is likely to change. The brand is considered to be extremely profitable. This is also due to the fact that a large part of the turnover, especially in the jewelry sector, is generated in the company’s own boutiques.

Why is Cyrille Vigneron resigning from Cartier?

However, luxury brands are not a sure-fire success. Eight years ago, when Vigneron started as CEO, Cartier was having considerable problems in the watch sector. The company had become bogged down in ambitious projects for complicated watches. In addition, the market in China collapsed due to the anti-corruption campaign and the abolition of the gift culture in Chinese business life. This led to a severe oversupply. Retailers were sitting on unsold models and there was a risk that these would end up on the grey market at reduced prices – a nightmare for a luxury brand.

One of the first things Vigneron did after his appointment was to buy back watches from retailers on a large scale. This cost a lot of money and required an admission of error, which is rare in the watch industry. After that, Vigneron concentrated on the well-known Cartier classics – Tank, Santos, Ballon Bleu, Pasha – rather than on complicated new developments. According to Luxeconsult and Morgan Stanley, this enabled Cartier to replace Omega as the second largest Swiss watch brand. Its sales are only surpassed by Rolex.

Vigneron has acknowledged that he has done a very good job in his eight years at the helm of Cartier. He has also created new desires in the jewellery sector, particularly among the younger generation, through clever marketing and a focus on design classics.

Why Vigneron is stepping down now, at the age of 63, is not explained. It may be related to the appointment of Nicolas Bos as the new CEO. There has long been speculation that Vigneron could become the new boss of Richemont. But Rupert said he preferred a younger candidate and chose the 53-year-old Bos.

Since the appointment of Bos also changed Richemont’s organizational chart, Vigneron would have to report to his former colleague in the future. Until now, Cartier had a special position in the group, and Vigneron reported directly to Rupert.

But perhaps it is also a successful type of arched career, in which executives shift down a gear a few years before retirement age. This is suggested by the fact that Vigneron is not leaving Cartier completely, but will take over the position of Chairman of Cartier Culture & Philanthropy on September 1, 2024. This initiative is very close to the heart of the sensitive Vigneron.

Vacheron Constantin has developed strongly under Ferla

Vigneron will work with Ferla, the communiqué states, “to ensure a smooth transition.” Not that he needs much introduction, as Ferla has many years of experience with Richemont and Cartier: He began his career in 2001 at leather goods specialist Alfred Dunhill as head of sales in Hong Kong, later becoming head of the business in Taipei.

In 2006, Ferla moved to Cartier, where his roles included managing the Middle East, India and Africa region. He then became head of China and later a member of Cartier’s management team.

In 2017, Ferla finally moved within the group to the watch brand Vacheron Constantin and took over the management there. At Vacheron, he delivered his “journeyman’s piece” as CEO. Johann Rupert is quoted as saying that Ferla has earned a lot of recognition within the group and in the industry and has positioned Vacheron Constantin “brilliantly” in the world of haute horlogerie.

Vacheron Constantin has actually developed strongly in recent years. The brand, which was founded in 1755 and is considered one of the oldest, was always highly respected, but for a long time was also a bit dusty. With the launch of new, somewhat sportier collections, the image began to change. Today, Vacheron is “in” and is sometimes mentioned in the same breath as Audemars Piguet and even Patek Philippe.

This is not only Ferla’s achievement. Some of today’s bestsellers were launched before he took over as CEO. But Ferla made important decisions: for example, with the launch of a new model, he reduced the entry-level price for Vacheron watches by around a third to around 11,000 francs. He wanted to attract more younger customers.

Catherine Rénier succeeds Bos at Van Cleef & Arpels

Richemont’s policy of recruiting managers from within its own ranks means that every new appointment creates a vacancy elsewhere. It is not yet known who will succeed Ferla at Vacheron. However, it has been clear since Tuesday who will follow in Nicolas Bos’ footsteps at Van Cleef & Arpels. It is Catherine Rénier, the current head of the luxury watch brand Jaeger-Le Coultre, which also belongs to Richemont.

The Frenchwoman is a Richemont veteran like Bos, Vigneron and Ferla, and she too will be taking up a job at a brand she already knows from before. Rénier started at Cartier in 1999, but she spent most of her career at Van Cleef & Arpels, where she rose to become President of the Asia-Pacific region.

Jaeger-Le Coultre has not yet appointed a new CEO. Philippe Hermann, Chief Financial Officer, will take on the role of interim CEO until a new CEO is announced, according to Richemont’s communiqué.