Kering's ReconKering recasts the group as luxury's 'indisputable challenger'
At a Florence Capital Markets Day, new CEO Luca de Meo unveiled ReconKering: five hubs, a doubled margin target by 2030 and a slimmer, less indebted group.
What was changed
At Kering's Capital Markets Day at Florence's Stazione Leopolda on April 16, 2026, CEO Luca de Meo unveiled 'ReconKering', a strategy to reposition the group 'as the indisputable challenger in luxury'. The three-and-a-half-hour presentation came seven months after de Meo joined from Renault, where he had led the Renaulution turnaround.
'Five, six, or seven years ago, Kering was the number two luxury group in a very good dynamic,' de Meo said. 'Being a challenger is a good position for us to be... when you are a challenger, you need to be faster, more agile, more innovative.' The plan targets more than doubling Kering's recurring operating margin in the mid-term — around 2030 — from 11% in 2025, and gradually outgrowing the market in sales.
Structurally, ReconKering replaces the old setup with a streamlined group platform of five hubs rooted in industry, client, technology, sustainability and support functions — 'not a question of centralization. It's a rebalance,' de Meo said. The balance sheet repair is under way: debt fell from €10.5 billion at end-2024 to €8 billion at end-2025, further reduced by the €4 billion L'Oréal beauty deal closing and a €700 million Montenapoleone real-estate sale, while the group closed 75 stores in 2025 and plans at least 100 more closures in 2026.
De Meo's first seven months also postponed the full acquisition of Valentino, sold the beauty business, reshuffled leadership, hired from the automotive industry and created a new Kering jewelry entity. He brought the CEOs and creative directors of Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, McQueen and Boucheron on stage 'to present the people who will be leading its execution in the next years'.
Why it worked
Kering's sales decelerated while Gucci — its largest brand — dropped 8% in the first quarter, missing expectations and sending shares down sharply.
De Meo argues a challenger must see trajectories leaders defend, so the strategy is built on agility and a rebalanced platform rather than scale.
Debt was the binding constraint: every sale — beauty, real estate, store closures — feeds the margin and growth targets for 2030.
What can be applied
A challenger posture is a strategy, not a slogan: it licenses speed, a leaner platform and targets leaders cannot set for themselves.
Aftermath
The market context de Meo described stays hard — the luxury market flat to slightly negative since 2023, with China contracting around 20% — and the plan's margin and growth targets now run to about 2030; a new Bottega Veneta CEO was expected 'in the next months or weeks'.