Kering CEO Luca de Meo unveiled a sweeping three-phase turnaround strategy at the group’s Capital Markets Day in Florence on April 16, targeting a more than doubling of the group’s recurring operating profit margin in the “mid-term” — from 11% in 2025 (down from 27% in 2022) to a figure the company declined to specify precisely.
The plan, called “ReconKering,” runs in three stages: structural reset by end of 2026; rebuilding sustainable growth by end of 2028; and reclaiming industry leadership by 2030. Q1 2026 revenues were €3.57 billion, down 6.4% on a reported basis.
Gucci, the group’s flagship, is the centrepiece of the recovery. Q1 sales fell 14.3% on a reported basis. De Meo was unusually candid about past mistakes, describing how the brand had used China as a “trash bin” — chasing short-term volume through discounters and large-format stores in lower-tier cities. The fix: a 20% SKU reduction, a rebuilt product pyramid, €1 billion in new leather goods business by 2030, and a new creative era under Demna.
Across the group, de Meo set out a series of doubling targets: overall jewellery, top-client business, Gucci store density, Saint Laurent menswear and Asia, Bottega Veneta non-leather, and Balenciaga leathergoods, womenswear and US business. He also warned underperforming houses — including McQueen, Brioni, Ginori 1735, and Pomellato — that they must return to profitability within two years or face being “kicked out of the system.”
A new investment platform, House of Wonders, will take minority stakes in emerging brands, with an initial stake in Chinese fashion group ICCF (owner of Icicle and Carven).
Markets were sceptical: Kering shares fell 3.9% on the day. Citi analyst Thomas Chauvet noted that luxury brand turnarounds have become “more complex, slower, and more costly.”