Esprit: CEO Resigns for Personal Reasons, Effective July 2013

By Chester Yung

HONG KONG--Fashion retailer Esprit Holdings Ltd. (0330.HK) said Tuesday its Chief Executive Ronald van der Vis has resigned, citing "personal and family reasons," with his resignation is effective on or before July 1, 2013 according to the contract.

"Mr. van der Vis has decided to resign for personal and family reasons, and he has expressed his wish to pursue other interests," the company said in a statement.

"The Board regrets this, but respects Mr van der Vis's decision to devote more time to his personal endeavors," the retailer said, without saying who would replace Mr. van der Vis.

Esprit has been struggling in recent years to reinvigorate its performance through such initiatives as brand rebuilding and cost-cutting.

In September, after reporting a 98% plunge in full-year net profit, it declared it had "lost its soul" and presented plans to divest itself of its North America business and drop retail operations in three big European countries.

The company also said it would invest more than HK$18 billion (US$2.32 billion) over the next four years to rebuild its brand, which competes globally with the likes of Hennes & Mauritz AB's (HM-B.SK) H&M and Inditex SA's (ITX.MC) Zara.

Esprit said Tuesday the overhaul, announced in September, has moved into the execution phase and that it will continue to execute the plan as planned.

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