Geox Taps Luxottica Veteran Enrico Mistron as Its New CEO
MILAN — Geox SpA named a new chief executive officer Friday on the heels of reporting a 2.2 percent dip in revenues for the fiscal 2023 to 720 million euros.
Enrico Mistron is joining the publicly listed footwear player in the CEO role, replacing Livio Libralesso who stayed at the helm for four years.
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Mistron had most recently jumpstarted his own consultancy, E-MC, but he is best know as a Luxottica veteran who over his 25-year career at the eyewear giant covered numerous C-suite roles including executive vice president, chief corporate officer; group supply chain senior vice president, and group operations controller.
“I thank the president and the entire board of directors for being entrusted [to the role] and I’m honored to be accepting this professional challenge,” said Mistron.
The company said his appointment is pivotal for the company’s business, marked by investments geared at end consumers, sustainability, AI, as well as research and development.
In addition to Mistron’s appointment, Geox SpA announced Andrea Maldi is joining the Veneto, Italy-based firm as its chief financial officer. The executive has previously held similar positions at General Electric, the Italian Bourse and Fiera Milano, among other companies.
“The year 2023 was extremely challenging, especially in the second half, marked by strong uncertainty as a result of the complex macroeconomic landscape, which directly influenced our market,” said Geox president Mario Moretti Polegato. “The year was defined by a stabilization after the strong increases over the past two years,” he added.
He touted the company’s ongoing rationalization process and cost containment measures, which ensured an improvement of its 2023 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, which stood at 89 million euros, or 12.4 percent of revenues, versus 79.4 million euros, or 10.8 percent of sales, in the previous year.
In the 12 months ended Dec. 31, Geox SpA’s revenues were impacted by a decrease in directly operated retail sales, which the company attributed to a planned rationalization of its store network. At constant exchange rates, sales inched up 0.3 percent.
Sales were down 7.1 percent and 10.1 percent in Europe and North America, respectively, while revenues in Italy posted a 3.1 percent increase. The wholesale channel, which represented 51.7 percent of sales last year, only partially offset the negative performance, improving 0.6 percent year-over-year.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, revenues declined 17.3 percent at current exchange rates to 138 million euros.
Geox SpA shares closed at 0.72 euros at the end of trading Friday, down 2 percent.
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