Van de Velde loses CFO, but gets permission to work nights

Belgian lingerie producer Van de Velde sees its financial director Bart Rabaey leave the company after a series of struggling quarters. Meanwhile, the manufacturer of Prima Donna and Marie-Jo did get approval to work weekends and nights.

New challenge

Rabaey, who has worked for Van de Velde since 2016, leaves the company “to take on a new professional challenge”. However, he will remain on board until 31 December at the latest to enable a smooth success. The departure comes at a difficult time for Van de Velde: the lingerie group expects a substantial profit drop this financial year, due to high online costs and disappointing retail sales. Turnover is also falling.

Nevertheless, in the announcement satisfaction and optimism prevail: Rabaey mentions the “successful launch of the omnichannel approach” and talks about a “scaleable platform for future growth”. 

Allowed to work weekends and nights

Indeed there is good news regarding e-commerce: Van de Velde received the go-ahead from the unions to introduce weekend and night shifts in its distribution centre. Starting next year, twenty people will work weekends to process online orders. According to the Christian trade union ACV, an agreement was reached as the management ensured that e-commerce activities would remain in Belgium “with acceptable pay and working conditions”. In order to fill the positions, it can fully rely on existing employees in the company.