François-Henri Pinault Exits Puma’s Board of Directors

PARIS — The exit of Kering’s chairman and chief executive officer François-Henri Pinault from Puma’s board of directors on Wednesday has done nothing to calm persistent rumors that the French luxury group is looking to offload the sporting goods maker. But the focus for Kering, according to a company spokesperson, remains on getting Puma back on track in terms of profitability. Defending the decision to shareholders attending Puma’s AGM on Wednesday at the company’s headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany, Jean-François Palus, group managing director of Kering, who will retain his role as chairman of the Puma board, put it down to a streamlining of the decision-making process. “Six members, among them two employee representatives, are sufficient for an effective and flexible steering of the company,” he said. “The last six years have shown that a smaller board aligns better with the company’s size. We may also not forget that a smaller administrative board also enables the company to save costs.” On the same day, Puma, in an ad-hoc announcement, said it was raising full-year guidance for 2017 on the back of strong first-quarter results, and released preliminary data for the period. At the presentation of Kering’s full-year results in February, Pinault said he had no intention of selling

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