Kering


Kering is an international group based in Paris specialized in luxury goods and sustainability. Amongst the brands that Kering owns are Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent.
The timber-trading company Pinault S.A. was founded in 1963 by François Pinault. After the company was quoted on Euronext Paris in 1988, it became the retail conglomerate Pinault-Printemps-Redoute in 1994, and the luxury group Kering in 2013. The group is a constituent of the CAC 40 since 1995. François-Henri Pinault is President and CEO of Kering since 2005. In 2019, the group's revenue reached €15.9 billion.

History

From timber trading to retail

In 1963, with a loan from his family and a bank, François Pinault opened the Établissements Pinault in Brittany specialized in timber trading. The company became Pinault S.A. and grew organically and through successful acquisitions. In 1988, Pinault S.A. was listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.
In 1989, Pinault S.A. purchased 20% of CFAO, a French distribution conglomerate active throughout Africa. In 1990, Pinault S.A. and CFAO merged, and François Pinault became head of the newly formed group. This accelerated its acquisitions in the retail sector: Conforama in 1991, Printemps in 1992, which also owned 54% of La Redoute, and Fnac in 1994. To align with its new activities, the group was renamed Pinault-Printemps-Redoute in 1994.
In 1999, Pinault-Printemps-Redoute purchased a controlling 42% stake of the Gucci group for $3 billion and 100% of Yves Saint Laurent. Those acquisitions marked the cornerstone of the group's shift towards luxury. After Gucci, Pinault-Printemps-Redoute acquired Boucheron, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, and signed strategic partnerships with Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney. In 2004, Pinault-Printemps-Redoute reached a 99.4% ownership of Gucci.

From retail to luxury

In 2003, François Pinault handed over the helm of Artémis, the family holding company that controlled Pinault-Printemps-Redoute to his son François-Henri. In 2005, François-Henri Pinault became President and CEO of Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, succeeding to Serge Weinberg. The group officially changed its name to PPR. and kept on building a portfolio of luxury brands: The Sowind Group and Brioni, the Pomellato Group, Qeelin, Christopher Kane, Ulysse Nardin. To further this strategy, PPR offloaded its retail assets: Le Printemps, Conforama, CFAO, Fnac, and La Redoute. PPR also developed a Sport & Lifestyle portfolio with the acquisition of Puma, Cobra Golf, and Volcom.. Cobra and Volcom are since then been divested and Kering only holds a minority share in Puma.
On 22 March 2013, PPR changed its name to Kering to fully achieve the group's shift towards luxury. Pronounced, to sound like the English word "caring", the new name is a reference to the Pinault family's region of origin, Brittany, where means "home". The new logo has an owl as its emblem, a bird that can rotate its head 270 degrees, giving it extraordinary vision, and François Pinault's favorite animal.
In December 2014, Alessandro Michele, an unknown accessories designer, was named creative director of Gucci, and quickly revitalized the brand's creativity, fashion relevance, and profitability. From 2014 to 2017, Gucci's sales doubled from 3,497.2 million euros to 6,211.2 million euros. In 2015, following Hedi Slimane’s four-year success at the creative helm of Yves Saint Laurent, Kering named a new creative director, Anthony Vaccarello, to pursue the evolution of the brand while maintaining its growth pace. In October 2015, Kering named Georgian-born designer Demna Gvasalia as creative director of Balenciaga. In 2013, the group took its eyewear activities in-house and launched Kering Eyewear. In March 2017, Richemont acquired 30% of Kering Eyewear and allowed Kering to acquire Cartier's eyewear plant in Sucy-en-Brie.
In November 2018, the group announced the end of its collaboration with Yoox to open its proprietary ecommerce platform by 2020, and launched a partnership with Apple to create new in-store mobile applications for the luxury sector. The group announced its intention to branch into high-end jewelry by mid-2019 and opened the Torre Kering, the group's new Italian offices in a 11,000 m² building in Milan.
In March 2018, Kering agreed to sell its shares of Stella McCartney back to its eponymous owner. Kering became a luxury pure player after the sale of Puma and Volcom. After the group built up its portfolio of luxury brands, it stopped acquisitions and capitalized on the organic growth of its newly-acquired assets. In 2019, Kering made 15,383 billion euros in revenue, +16,2% from the previous year.

From luxury to sustainability

In April 2012, Kering committed to a 4-year plan to significantly reduce its impact on the environment. The group developed the "Environmental Profit & Loss account" accounting method to track its progress. In 2017, the group presented its new sustainability program which targeted a 40% reduction of its global environmental impact by 2025, a strategy aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
In September 2013, Kering became part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices and was named top sustainable textile, apparel and luxury goods corporation" in the Corporate Knights’ Global 100 index in 2018
In February 2018, in partnership with the London College of Fashion, Kering launched the first online class in fashion and sustainability. In October 2018, Kering started to implement the use of the first 100% traceable organic cotton. In December 2018, with Plug and Play, Kering launched the Kering Sustainable Innovation Award to reward and invest in startups focused on sustainability and luxury. Along with a dozen of fashion brands, Kering signed a United Nations charter in December 2018 pledging to become carbon-neutral by 2050, and launched, with The Savory Institute, the first "regenerative sourcing" standard for fashion suppliers to measure the regenerative potential of raw materials and finished products. In May 2019, as the group was releasing guidelines for dealing with animal welfare in the fashion industry and banning models under 18 to represent adults in its shows, the French President Emmanuel Macron appointed François-Henri Pinault to set new climate standards for the fashion and retail industry. The "G7 Fashion Pact" was signed 3 months later by 32 global fashion corporations, right before being discussed at the 45th G7 summit.

Activities

Description

Kering is an international group based in Paris specialized in on luxury and fashion goods. Its portfolio includes luxury brands specialized in the design, the making and the sale of fine products, especially in the leather goods, shoes, ready-to-wear, watches and jewellery sectors: Kering Eyewear produces glasses for the luxury sector.
Kering's headquarters are located in the former Hopital Laennec located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris and renovated by the group. The parent holding company of Kering is Groupe Artémis.

Brands

BrandWith Kering sinceCountry
Gucci1999Italy
Yves Saint Laurent1999France
Boucheron2000France
Bottega Veneta2001Italy
Balenciaga2001Spain
Alexander McQueen2001UK
Brioni2011Italy
Girard-Perregaux2011Switzerland
JeanRichard2011Switzerland
Qeelin2012France
Pomellato2012Italy
Dodo2012Italy
Tomas Maier2013Germany
Christopher Kane2014UK
Ulysse Nardin2014Switzerland

Kering Foundation

The Kering Foundation is committed to defending women’s dignity and rights by combating violence against women and promoting women’s empowerment. Since 2009, the Foundation initiated 47 partnerships with NGOs and supported many social projects oriented towards women’s rights.
Many brands have their own philanthropic projects with the support of the Kering Foundation. Gucci launched its project Chime for Change, an international campaign to raise funds for women’s emancipation, focusing on education, health and justice.
Every year since 2012, the Kering Foundation has contributed to the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women with the White Ribbon for Women campaign. The 2018 campaign focused on gender-based cyberbullying. In 2019,for its 10-year anniversary, the annual budget of the Foundation was doubled to $2 million.

Women In Motion Awards

In 2015, Kering became an official partner of the Cannes Film Festival and launched Women in Motion to highlight the contribution of women to the film industry, in front and behind the camera. The program is based on talks where personalities share their recommendations for the advancement of women’s representation in the industry. The Women in Motion Awards are awarded annually to a person who embodies the role of women in the film industry, and another to a promising name in cinema. The previous winners were:
In March 2019, the Women in Motion Awards was expanded to the Rencontres d'Arles photography festival. In May 2019, the Cannes Partnership was renewed for five additional years.

Governance

Board of Directors

Results

Market data

In September 2018, Kering joined the STOXX Europe 50 index. In November 2018, the group announced the share repurchase of 1% of its share capital.