Salvatore Ferragamo CEO Eraldo Poletto to depart

Italian fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo announced on Tuesday the departure of its CEO Eraldo Poletto, who only served as head of the group for one-and-a-half years.

The decision comes at a time when the firm's financials are at half-mast. Stocks have plunged 14.5% on the Milan Stock Exchange over the course of the past 12 months.

The Florentine brand thanked Poletto "for having contributed, during his tenure, to the start of a new chapter in the company's history, characterised by a great dynamism, an important digital breakthrough and a special attention to the brand and to the product, also manifested during the recent Milan fashion shows."

Eraldo Poletto came to the top job at Ferragamo in August 2016, following the departure of Michele Nosra, who served as chief for ten years. Poletto previously served as CEO at Furla, where he promoted the luxury brand's internationalisation. 

For the first nine months of the fiscal year, Ferragamo recorded a 28.3% decrease in net profit to 79 million euros, and a 25.1% drop in EBITDA to 162 million euros.

Revenues fell 0.9% to 1 billion euros, down 5.5% for the third semester alone.

Since 2016, however, Salvatore Ferragamo has been on a profound reorganisation of its processes, from changing its CEO to rejigging its creative team.  

Eraldo Poletto highlighted in November that 2018 would be "another year of hard work" adding "we must be careful and do what is right."

While results for the first nine months of the year have been disappointing, analysts nonetheless have said that the chosen strategy is right, estimating the firm would recover in the next few quarters.

The group is focusing on strengthening product categories where it is currently the weakest, including bags, accessories and fashion, while continuing to grow its successful shoe business.

The house, which still belongs to the Ferragamo family, has been under the guidance of an independent CEO since 2006.

But, having to appoint a new chief executive "could be a potential medium term positive", Exane BNP Paribas said.

Shares were up 4.1 percent at 23.57 euros by 0838 GMT, outperforming a 0.4 percent fall in Milan's blue-chip index.