Dive Brief:
- Angela Cretu was named Avon's new CEO, according to an announcement on the beauty company's website. She will oversee business operations outside of Latin America and over the global Avon brand.
- Cretu has worked at the multi-level marketing company for more than 20 years in various senior executive positions, including as group vice president and general manager of central Europe.
- Cretu's appointment follows a Friday announcement that Natura & Co. closed a deal to acquire Avon Products, effectively making it the fourth largest pure-play beauty company globally, per a company announcement.
Dive Insight:
At the top of Natura's investor relations page there is a banner that says, "Avon, welcome to the family!" aligned with the logos of Avon, Natura, The Body Shop and Aesop.
The excitement over the acquisition is much different in tone than this time last year when Avon revealed that it had to slash its workforce by 10% as one step in a larger strategy that would attempt to, "simplify its operating structure, reduce product line complexity and reduce inventory holding levels."
At the time of the workforce reduction, Avon's then-CEO Jan Zijderveld said in a statement that, "This reset is an opportunity for us to sharpen our portfolio and concentrate on products that are important and relevant to our customer."
Efforts made in the company's latest turnaround seemingly started working. Avon was able to reduce inventory by $43 million and take steps to change its manufacturing footprint. In the company's third quarter, adjusted revenue was still down 6% year over year, but adjusted operating margin doubled to 6% and the business saw $71 million in cost savings during the quarter.
"Avon is on a transformation journey, and I'm greatly looking forward to working with its talented teams to deliver the next era of growth, while also driving the international expansion of Natura and furthering our combined purposes of promoting economic empowerment for women around the world," Cretu said in a statement.
With the acquisition of Avon, Natura now has an anticipated annual gross revenue of over $10 billion, with more than 6.3 million consultants and representatives, 40,000 associates and more than 3,000 retail stores in over 100 countries.
