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By Dominique Vidalon and Bate Felix
PARIS (Reuters) – Rémy Cointreau <OPRC.PA> CEO Valerie Chapoulaud-Floquet, architect of her desire to encourage more expensive minds to generate profit margins, will retire by the end of 2019 for personal reasons, the company said.
The group's share price has more than doubled since the recovery of the luxury sector specialist in September 2014 with a strategy focused on the sale of spirits at a price of $ 50 or more per bottle.
Chapoulaud-Floquet, 56, will continue to exercise his mandate until the arrival of his successor, announced the manufacturer of Cognac Rémy Martin and Liquor Cointreau.
Rémy Cointreau did not specify when a new CEO would be appointed. The reason for leaving Chapoulaud-Floquet was not clearly understood, but the company said it was not for health reasons.
The company's shares, whose market value is closer to that of luxury companies than its peers in the spirits sector, fell by 1.2% in morning trading as a result of the surprise announcement.
"She did an awesome job at Remy, leading the company's strategic move towards a super premium niche business," Jefferies badysts said.
"Given his strong leadership, we believe his resignation will be taken negatively by the market, until the appointment of a suitable successor."
Chapoulaud-Floquet joined Rémy Cointreau as the group struggled with a drop in cognac sales in China following the Chinese government's 2012 crackdown on corruption and ostentatious consumption.
His strategy, different from that of rivals such as Pernod Ricard <PERP.PA>, which launched cheaper brands in the Chinese market to cope with the recession, benefited from the recovery in Chinese consumption in recent years.
Louis Remy XIII Luxury cognac – which sells for over $ 3,000 a bottle – is demanded in China but is also benefiting from the growing demand from wealthy consumers elsewhere, particularly in the United States.
Chapoulaud-Floquet said in the same statement that she was comfortable leaving, "because the results, foundations, teams and strategic vision of the group allow her to look to the future with optimism, ambition and success ".
Last month, the group gave investors a special dividend after announcing a stronger than expected 14% increase in its annual operating profit.
He also recalled that he expected high-end spirits to account for 60% to 65% of his sales in the medium term, up from 53% currently.
Before joining Rémy Cointreau, Chapoulaud-Floquet spent 24 years at the cosmetics giant L'Oreal <PERT.PA> where she has held various management positions in Asia, Europe and the United States.
After L'Oréal, she joined the Louis Vuitton leather goods and luxury luggage group <LVMH.PA> in 2008, where she became President and CEO of the Americas before leaving for Remy.
"She's 56, so maybe she's going to do some other work elsewhere," Liberum badysts said in a note.
(Report by Bate Felix, edited by Michel Rose, Dominique Vidalon and Jan Harvey)
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