“I’m excited about my business, and I’m not leaving”.
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Shares of Ralph Lauren rose 4 percent to $108 in after-market trading Tuesday after an all time 52 week low of $103.
Ralph Lauren has announced that he is resigning from his position as CEO of the fashion company (NYSE: RL) that bares his name.
Thanks in part to changes adopted by Larsson, Old Navy has an efficient supply chain and can roll out new products relatively quickly.
Lauren is not the only fashion icon who has resigned from his post in recent years: Donna Karan, of DKNY, resigned as CEO in 1997, while Calvin Klein stepped down from his namesake company in 2002.
Cantor Fitzgerald’s Laura Champine also sees the departure as a blow to Gap, saying Larsson was the retailer’s strongest leader and a top candidate to lead the company given his previous retail experience with H&M and his relatively young age. Same-store sales, which measure sales at stores open longer than a year, have increased for six straight quarters for Old Navy, including a solid 3% gain in the second quarter. “Stefan Larsson is exceptionally talented, and he will bring our company a fresh and exciting global perspective”, Lauren said in a statement from Business Wire.
“I expect that the e-commerce re-platforming investment is likely to ramp up next year versus this year as we get closer to implementation”, he said, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha. Lauren said that he was looking for a proper CEO and the two connected over dinner and then had subsequent meetings. But before his role in the Old Navy, he used to work at H&M for 15 years. We have had tremendous success expanding the Ralph Lauren brands around the world and creating a great management team.
“The biggest concern is that he’s been orchestrating the entire turnaround at Old Navy, and without him it’s going to fall into the same rut as the Gap”, Siegel said.
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Ralph Lauren also announced that Jackwyn Nemerov, president and chief operating officer, will retire in November, at which time she will become an adviser to the company. She’s been with the company for four years and has been a VP of global apparel for Nike.
