Kering-owned McQueen considers job cuts at its headquarters

Fashion brand Alexander McQueen is “launching a strategic review” amid a wider ongoing turnaround at its parent company Kering. The brand is considering 55 redundancies at its London-based headquarters, Kering confirmed on Thursday, following a report by WWD.

These 55 positions represent 20 percent of the headquarters' workforce, Kering specified.

McQueen has “launched a programme aimed at returning the company to sustainable profitability over the next three years,” according to a statement sent to the American trade publication WWD.

“As part of a comprehensive strategic review of our global operations, we are restructuring our UK headquarters and reducing the complexity of our international markets,” the brand added.

Kering “fully supports McQueen in its strategic transformation. We are confident that the measures taken will strengthen the Maison's position in the global luxury market and will enable it to be perfectly aligned with its strategic objectives and operational needs,” according to a statement sent to AFP.

McQueen is one of the brands in the Kering luxury group, which also owns Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta. Its turnover is not detailed. However, the “other houses” division, to which the brand belongs, reported a 5 percent drop in sales to 652 million euros in the third quarter.

On Wednesday, Kering reported a 10 percent decline in third-quarter turnover to 3.4 billion euros. The results were still weighed down by its flagship brand Gucci but were above market expectations. This was the first financial release since the arrival in September of the new chief executive officer Luca de Meo, who intends to turn the company around.

The group had announced on Sunday evening that it was selling its beauty division to L'Oréal for four billion euros.

“We will have to continue to reduce our debt and, where necessary, streamline, reorganise and reposition some of our brands,” de Meo had stated upon his appointment.

On Wednesday, Kering's deputy chief executive officer, Jean-Marc Duplaix, reiterated during a call with financial analysts that “regarding the portfolio, we will, of course, examine very openly, as we have always done, the relevance of the assets we hold.”

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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