(Reuters) -LVMH has appointed Jean-Christophe Babin as CEO of its watches division, choosing a veteran watches and jewellery executive from within the group to take over from Frederic Arnault, company said on Friday.
The move follows other top management changes at LVMH as the five children of the company’s chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault move up the ranks of the luxury group. Frederic Arnault was recently picked to run the fast-growing Italian cashmere brand Loro Piana.
The watches division, meanwhile, has been hit with slowing demand as inflation-strapped shoppers curtail high-end purchases, with the watches and jewellery division’s sales down 2% last year.
Babin headed LVMH’s Italian label Bulgari for the past 12 years, and before that watchmaker Tag Heuer also for 12 years. Babin, who will remain CEO of Bulgari, will take up his new job on April 1.
(Reporting by Piotr Lipinski and Mimosa Spencer; editing by David Evans and Jane Merriman)
