It will be the third mandate for Francesco Milleri, CEO and president of EssilorLuxottica. The shareholders’ meeting of the eyewear giant, in fact, confirmed him on the board of directors with a Bulgarian majority (almost 83% voted for him). The shareholders also give the green light to the manager’s remuneration which rewards the results achieved in recent years: now the remuneration will go from 4.9 million euros (between variable and fixed), to a new policy which provides for 2.1 million fixed and between 150% and 300% variable. The ISS proxy advisor who had advised shareholders against voting for the increase was defeated, as well as suggested separating the roles of CEO and president. Indications that seemed out of focus in light of the results achieved by the company: «In 2018 our pro forma revenues were approximately 16 billion euros. We closed 2023 with revenues of 25.4 billion, an increase of 57% in six years.” All with clear benefits for shareholders: “the share price” is “almost double the opening price on our first day of trading on the French market”. Yet Milleri declared: “Some indications from the proxies are not wrong.” This will be “the mandate of the transition, I hope that in the end the governance will also evolve towards the best standards”.
A mention is inevitable of the late founder of Luxottica, Leonardo Del Vecchio, without whom Essilux would not exist «With Del Vecchio we dreamed of a large group, today we celebrate the realization of this dream». In fact, today Essilux is among the top ten companies in the Cac40 by capitalization (over 90 billion euros) but aims to further develop by focusing on med-tech, luxury and digital: «Our goal is to soon surpass the 100 billion euro milestone ». The group has grown and has also stood out for its bonuses, performance bonuses, share matching, profit sharing and dividends in addition to ordinary compensation: «In six years we have redistributed 4 billion of the value created to our employees, one billion in 2023 alone”, remarked Milleri.
During the meeting – which gave the OK to the 2023 budget and the distribution of the dividend – Milleri also spoke about possible acquisitions: «It’s in our DNA», he said, EssilorLuxottica’s interest today looks at the «med- tech, on the medical part of eye clinics.” On the ophthalmic clinic front, in particular, Milleri said: «We are analyzing it very carefully, we hope to start making the first moves in this market». As for the interest in Marcolin, the top manager said “we’ll see, but it’s not strategic.” A shareholder asked Milleri if there could be a Ferrari-style spin-off for Ray Ban: “I don’t see a spin-off in the short term”, was the reply, “then you never know in the future”.
Milleri, on the sidelines, praised Andrea Orcel, CEO of Unicredit. Delfin has a 2.5% share “on which we have a capital gain of 100%”. On the other hand, Delfin justified her absence from the Generali meeting by saying that “there were no important decisions”, she defined herself as “neutral” on the future of the company and that it is not certain that the share will exceed 10%.
And then: «Mediobanca? We are long-term shareholders, extremely satisfied with the results.”
