LONDON — Compagnie Financière Richemont is raising the bar on its beauty business with the formation of Laboratoire de Haute Parfumerie et Beauté, a platform geared toward scaling the fragrance brands in its portfolio.

Boet Brinkgreve has been named chief executive officer of the division and reports to company chairman Johann Rupert.

Brinkgreve will help the six maisons already involved in fragrance “to succeed in critical mass on this highly competitive field, where scale is crucial,” Richemont said. The corporate added the brand new platform “will leverage resources across our maisons to assist develop essentially the most refined creations and promising licenses.”

Richemont brands with fragrances include Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Chloé, Dunhill, Alaïa and Montblanc. The brands’ licensing partners including Interparfums and Coty, while Cartier is developed by an in-house perfumer.

“Boet’s role will likely be instrumental in enabling our maisons to succeed in their full potential on this dynamic market, broadening their clientele base whilst enhancing the maisons’ capabilities to fulfill the needs of their highly discerning clientele,” Rupert said Wednesday ahead of the corporate’s annual general meeting in Geneva.

“Together with his deep knowledge of the fragrance industry, prior success in driving latest ventures, remarkable track record in constructing winning international teams and commitment to sourcing sustainable ingredients, I’m convinced that Boet will prove to be a notable addition to the group.”

Brinkgreve may also join Richemont’s senior executive committee.

Shares in Interparfums, which holds licenses for the Montblanc and Van Cleef & Arpels fragrances, closed down 9.4 percent at 54.10 euros on Wednesday.

Montblanc is Interparfums’ largest brand. In the primary half of 2023, Montblanc generated 107.4 million euros of the group’s total sales of 396.1 million euros. Van Cleef is the group’s seventh-largest brand, which rang up 12.4 million euros within the six-month period. 

Richemont didn’t offer any further details in regards to the latest division, although a source aware of the corporate said that size matters within the fragrance business and that Richemont wanted a fresh pair of eyes across the portfolio with a view to take advantage of its existing fragrance businesses.

The source said the formation of Laboratoire de Haute Parfumerie et Beauté was not an try to take Richemont’s fragrances in house, but reasonably to supply “strategic guidance” to the brands about the right way to construct their businesses and turn out to be more sustainable.

Brinkgreve joins Richemont from Dsm-Firmenich, where he held a variety of senior executive positions from 2007 until 2023. His latest role was president of Ingredients & Group Procurement and a member of the chief committee.

He has also worked for DuPont in business development roles and is an entrepreneur who has founded several start-ups. A Dutch-born Swiss national, he holds a master’s degree in business administration from Insead.

Ahead of the AGM, Rupert also commented on macroeconomic matters, inflation and the corporate’s future.

He said that a decade of low rates of interest and central banks’ “excesses” in printing money has been damaging to countries and consumers, and that higher rates of interest were taking their toll.

“As I told you in May, demand in america began softening in November, albeit from a high base, sales having doubled over three years over there. We also said China will take longer to completely get better…and it has been proven to be correct. In Europe, ongoing inflation is beginning to impact local demand, but the excellent news is that we’re beginning to see the Chinese traveling again, including Europe,” Rupert said.

His comments sent Richemont’s share price tumbling. The shares closed down 5.2 percent at 117 Swiss francs on Wednesday,

Individually, Richemont said Gary Saage, the group’s former chief financial officer, will likely be proposed for election to the board at the corporate’s annual general meeting in 2024.

If elected, he’ll be named chairman of Richemont’s audit committee, taking up from Josua Malherbe.

The straight-talking Saage is a Richemont veteran and has served on the board previously. On the quarterly press calls and analyst presentations, he was engaging, thorough in his responses, and barely swerved a difficult query.

Richemont said he brings with him “invaluable knowledge” of the corporate, relevant financial skills and the “financial discipline” to perform this vital role.

A graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University in Latest Jersey, and a licensed public accountant, Saage joined Cartier in 1988. In subsequent years, he served as chief operating officer of Richemont in North America and Dunhill in London.

In 2006, he moved to Geneva to act as group deputy finance director, and in 2010 was promoted to CFO. He served on the board of directors from 2006 until 2021 when he stepped down from his CFO role.  

He returned full time to the U.S. and served as chairman of Richemont North America and related firms until August 2023 in a non-executive capability, overseeing governance matters. 

Rupert welcomed Saage back to the board, and said he could be an asset as head of the audit committee.

“It is a complex role that requires proficiency of accounting and regulatory matters, business acumen in addition to the courage to talk up in difficult situations, all competencies that he has clearly demonstrated during his long profession. It also requires deep institutional knowledge which Gary, having joined Cartier the 12 months I founded Richemont and worked across different parts of the group, indisputably has,” Rupert said.

On Wednesday, Richemont also proposed other appointments to its senior executive committee for 2024. Swen Grundmann will join the committee in his latest capability as director of corporate affairs along with maintaining his role as group company secretary. He’ll proceed to report back to Rupert.

A Dutch national, Grundmann holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law from the University of Amsterdam. He began his profession at Richemont in 1996 as legal counsel and was appointed group company secretary in 2017 and was involved in various merger and acquisition projects.

— With contributions from Jennifer Weil (Paris)