DFS Group’s CEO since the early days of the pandemic, Benjamin Vuchot, is stepping down “to pursue other professional interests” according to a statement from French parent LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
From November 1, the top job will be taken by Ed Brennan, the former CEO of the luxury travel retailer before Vuchot took the reins in January 2021. Brennan is a popular leader who had been with LVMH Group for over two decades.
Toni Belloni, senior non-executive DFS Group board director, said in a statement on Friday: “Ed Brennan has over 25 years experience at DFS and has twice before been chairman and CEO with an outstanding track record. Over the past four years, Ed has been a non-executive director of DFS and fully involved in the strategic developments of the business.”
Brennan will come back as an interim leader, presumably until the travel retailer can find a permanent replacement for Vuchot. Belloni alluded to DFS going through a “continued reinvention.”
From February 2021, Brennan had also been the CEO of the Robert Warren Miller family office, an entity representing the entrepreneur’s interests. Miller and recently deceased philanthropic billionaire business partner Chuck Feeney founded Duty Free Shoppers in 1960, making billions from lucrative sales to Japanese travelers in Hong Kong and Hawaii. In 1996, when LVMH bought DFS, Miller retained a large minority stake which he still has today.
Vuchot took on the CEO role at DFS Group during a very difficult period for the company. At the time he said: “I believe DFS is entering the most significant phase in its history.”
Having left the hugely successful beauty retailer Sephora as president of Asia, the luxury goods executive—with previous stints at DFS as president of North Asia; president of Asia-Pacific at Van Cleef & Arpels; and roles at Cartier before that—had to shore up the business during Covid-19 when the retailer’s core shopping group, Chinese nationals, were grounded due to the pandemic.
Business remains below pre-Covid levels
DFS has struggled since then while Sephora has been booming. Both are the biggest businesses within LVMH’s selective retailing division. However, most of the growth in the first half of this year—and most of the profit—has come from Sephora.
During the first half of 2024, LVMH said DFS “saw business activity remain below its 2019 pre-Covid level” as international travel only partially recovered in Europe and flagship destinations like Hong Kong and Macau. Christopher de Lapuente, the chairman and CEO of selective retailing is also exiting at the end of October.
It could be a case of needing a ‘new broom’ in LVMH’s travel retail business, though DFS did not comment further on a search for a permanent CEO. The retailer has not been able to shake off its troubles as the Chinese, while travelling again, are not spending nearly as much. And the future of China’s duty-free Hainan island—where DFS has committed to investing heavily in the new-build Yalong Bay project with partner Shenya Group—is far from clear based on the recent performance of China Duty Free Group.
A sale of DFS this summer had also been a possibility according to more than one source though this has not materialized, and was not confirmed by LVMH.
In his statement, Belloni thanked Vuchot “for his strong leadership.” The departing CEO has made DFS Group “a leaner, more efficient and more focused organization,” he added. On the Yalong Bay project, Belloni said that “it will become a major pillar of DFS’s future growth.”
DFS Group currently has more than 400 points of sale around the world, spread across 15 airports and 18 T Gallerias (such as the one pictured at the top), located in prized tourist destinations. Among them are the super-luxury Samaritaine in Paris—inaugurated by president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and LVMH’s billionaire chief, Bernard Arnault, in mid-2021—and Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice.
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