Do you have an exit strategy?
Everyone knows investors hate surprises. But that's what Benetton's investors got in November. Overshadowing the €1.8 billion fashion group's quarterly results announcement, the company dropped not one, but two, bombshells — both CEO Silvano Cassano and CFO Pier Francesco Facchini had resigned, effective immediately. The two colleagues formerly at Fiat, who joined Benetton in 2003, didn't even stick around for the conference call with analysts. By the end of the week, Benetton's shares slumped nearly 9% amid plenty of speculation about the reasons for the speedy exits.
A press release said that Cassano left the top post (but would remain on the board of directors) because his turnaround programme was nearing completion. But with five months remaining on his contract, many observers assumed that the real reason must have been a rift between him and the Benetton family over the firm's global growth strategy. As for Facchini, Mara Di Giorgio, Benetton's director of investor relations, convinced few analysts on a conference call with the explanation that he resigned for "personal reasons" that were not linked to Cassano' s departure.
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