Desigual sacrifices CEO

Sales grew too slowly

Jadraque had only been CEO for a year after being appointed in March 2014. His predecessor, Manel Adell, had left the company and Jadraque, who had been with the company for 10 years in different roles, was appointed CEO.

Desigual says the decision was made mutually, taking the commercial challenges the company faces into consideration. However, market experts point to Desigual’s French shareholder, Eurazeo, who had said late last year that turnover was only growing half as fast as the growth in additional stores.

New Chief Financial Officer as well

Jadraque’s resignation has brought founder Thomas Meyer back in charge, for the time being. He founded the company in 1984 and opened his first store in Ibiza 2 years later. His appointment is not the only change in the company: Desigual is apparently also on the lookout for a new Chief Financial Officer to guide its potential IPO, which is one of Eurazeo’s options to make a profit on its investment.

Desigual’s clothing is on sale in 109 countries through a network of 530 of its own boutiques, 11,000 multi-brand boutiques and some 2,500 department store sales corners. For 2015, Desigual had a 964 million euro turnover, up 16.2 % from the year before, while net profit was 14 % of the total turnover.