US' VF Corporation names Benno Dorer as interim president & CEO

Richard Carucci, a director on the board since 2009, will serve as interim chairman of the board. VF Corporation has retained a leading executive search firm to support its evaluation of internal and external candidates for CEO position, the company said in a press release.

Benno Dorer said, “Steve’s commitment to the business, passion for building strong brands, and focus on culture have helped VF evolve our portfolio of strong active-lifestyle brands and establish VF as a purpose-led company. We wish Steve well in his future endeavours.

“I look forward to working closely with the board and VF’s executive leadership team to drive profitable growth across our portfolio while the board identifies the right leader for the company’s next chapter.”

“We are fortunate to have Benno lead VF while the board conducts a search for a permanent CEO. He knows VF extremely well and has an excellent track record of generating strong business results in a global consumer portfolio business,” said Richard Carucci.

“It has been an honour to lead VF as CEO over the last five years,” said Rendle.

Furthermore, the company has also revised its FY23 outlook largely to reflect the impact of weaker than anticipated consumer demand across its categories, primarily in North America, which resulted in a more elevated than expected promotional environment as well as order cancellations in the wholesale channel to manage trade inventories. Also impacted the outlook, but to a lesser degree, were the higher-than-expected impacts from inflation on consumer discretionary spending in Europe and ongoing COVID-19 related disruption in China.

VF now expects total revenue growth in the second half of FY23 to be modestly lower than previously outlined, with revenue for the full year expected to increase 3–4 per cent in constant dollars, compared to the previous guidance of up 5 per cent to 6 per cent in constant dollars. The promotional environment, primarily in North America, and selling, general, and administrative deleverage from lower volumes are expected to impact profitability in the near term. Adjusted diluted EPS for the full year is now expected to be $2–2.20, versus $3.18 in the prior year and compared to the previous outlook of $2.40–2.50.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)