The CEO and president of Essilux Francesco Milleri will lead the multinational founded by Leonardo Del Vecchio over the next three years. This was decided by the shareholders’ meeting underway in Paris which voted to renew the board, the first without Del Vecchio, confirming the Milleri-Paul du Saillant ticket, the deputy CEO who has supported him for the last six years. 83.22 of the capital is present, with the key shareholders of Delfin, the Del Vecchio family safe which owns 32.5%, the employees association gathered in Valuptec which has 4.3% of the capital, with approximately 40 thousand employees who signed up for share plans. Then there is Giorgio Armani, close to 2%, plus the French state which, through the CDC and Bpi France, has 4%. Milleri – who received 82.96% of the votes of the capital represented in the room – opened up to a change in governance which in the urgency of the succession, after the death of the founder, who had so established, saw Milleri also attributed the office of president. The double assignment had been viewed critically by the ISS proxy advisor. «We come from such an important loss. We closed this mandate in a situation of pressure, of emergency. This is the mandate of the transition, I hope that at the end of this mandate the governance will also evolve towards the best international standards”. Then Milleri added: «Despite this, I believe that our government is one of the best in Europe today. Board, composition of the board, independence, quality, internationality. I believe that few companies can boast the quality and independence of ours, but we can always improve.”
Board in continuity
The novelty compared to the past, but already foreseen by the statute set by the founder Leonardo Del Vecchio, is that a staggered renewal of the board has been introduced, a system widespread among French listed companies. All members of the board of directors confirmed, in continuity with the previous mandate: Jean-Luc Biamonti (president of Covivio, subsidiary Delfin) and Marie-Christine Coisne-Roquette (formerly on the board of Totalenergie, former member of Medef, the French Confindusia) will have a three-year mandate, the last two as independent. while the other eight directors will be renewed for two years, with the aim of ensuring a change of board of directors every three years but at the same time ensuring the handover.
Appointed for a two-year mandate were Romolo Bardin (ad Delfin), José Gonzalo (indicated by the French State through Bpi and Cdp, 4%), Virginie Mercier-Pitre, (representative of Valoptec), Mario Notari (corporate consultant of Essilux and the its founder, on the Delfin board), Swati Piramal, Cristina Scocchia (at Illy), Nathalie von Siemens and Andrea Zappia (president of the appointments committee of Essilux, Sky Group).
Milleri president and CEO
«We have seen governance in action and we are very satisfied with the result, so we are very confident in recommending continuing in this way», said the president of the appointments and remuneration committee of EssilorLuxottica, Andrea Zappia, regarding the award to Francesco Milleri of both of the role of CEO and that of president of the group, a choice contested by the proxy advisor ISS. «We believe it is essential to ensure continuity in decision making in the future», he added, recalling that originally the decision to entrust both roles to Milleri was taken at the time of the death of Leonardo Del Vecchio». We asked Francesco to have both roles and he kindly accepted”, he concluded.
«Six years ago we brought together Essilor and Luxottica, two industry pioneers and two world-leading companies. In these six years, which have included two board terms, the acquisition of GrandVision and more than 100 M&A transactions, we have built a vertically integrated champion, which is unparalleled in the world.” And, he added, today it is among the top ten companies in the Cac40 index but remains a young company, a startup with many opportunities ahead of it, from med-tech to luxury to digital”.
Stock market value doubled
After the merger, the new group started with a capitalization of 46 billion and today has exceeded 90 billion euros, shortening the distance from the dream of the founder Leonardo del Vecchio who wanted to bring the value on the stock market to 100 billion. Revenues in 2023 closed at 25.4 billion, almost 10 more than seven years ago (+57% in six years). And this without ever forgetting profitability: net profit rose to 2.9 billion euros from 1.8 in 2018 (+66%).
Growth and digital
Therefore, growth remains the objective but must be accompanied by the development of all digital technologies. «We don’t often think about the fact that hundreds of millions of consumers interact with our brands every day. This means that hundreds of millions of data points every day help us predict market trends and consumer needs and develop our innovation path, said Milleri -. Varilux XR, the new lens technology we launched last year is an example of how data is improving our products. For us this represents a real access key to the diagnostic technology sector, which we are increasingly delving into: software and services for vision care, advanced diagnostics, telemedicine and more. HELIX, our new digital division, and Vision(X) launching soon in North America, will transform the way eye care professionals use modern technology to run their businesses. We want to bring this type of transformation beyond the borders of our sector.”
The M&A
The assembly was also an opportunity to talk about the future, about growth. As for Marcolin put up for sale by the Pai fund, Milleri said that the group «was part of the discussion, we will see what will happen but for us it is not a strategic thing. Our company is taking a slightly different direction than Marcolin. Milleri returned to talk about M&A which remains in focus: our business will be strong and fast in the coming times”
The family agreement
As for the family agreement on the Delfin safe floor, «We are confident, only the details are missing, if it weren’t for the lawyers we would have already closed», Claudio and Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, the only two of the six, replied in a sidebar brothers who participated in the assembly.
The endorsement to Andrea Orcel
Then, Delfin’s financial affairs. First of all Generali, for whose meeting Delfin did not deposit the shares and therefore did not cast the vote. «Our position has never been critical. It was an assembly where there were no important decisions, we didn’t want to create any problems so we left the quorums at 99%”, said Milleri, answering some questions. «Ours is a position of extreme neutrality, we are long-term shareholders, happy with the performance. Yet a year ago Delfin asked Ivass for permission to rise above 10%. «At Generali we have an ongoing process to regularize the minimum exceeding but this does not presuppose any decision on future growth». As a result of the buyback, Delfin exceeded 10%. «At Generali we have an ongoing process to regularize the minimum exceeding but this does not presuppose any decision on future growth».
The holding company’s other significant shareholding is close to 20% in Mediobanca. «We are long-term shareholders, extremely satisfied with the results». Satisfied shareholders therefore, as in Unicredit (2%) the company has «a capital gain of 100%, we have one of the best banker CEOs in the world, I believe. We are happy shareholders, we are the only shareholder left from the privatization. Maybe they should give us a trophy for merit.” The odds all remain firm for now, Milleri said. «In Mediobanca – he said – we are already at maximum, in fact every now and then we have to sell for a technical reason so as not to exceed the threshold that we don’t want to exceed».
