Day all the bosses quit luxury watch maker

THE luxury goods firm behind Cartier and Dunhill is in crisis after most of its senior management announced their departures on the same day.

Richemont chief executive Richard Lepeu retires in March. Finance director Gary Saage steps down four months later. Seven other directors will also leave the board.

The exits could not come at a worse time for the Swiss-based firm which is struggling to cope with sinking demand for luxury watches. Richemont posted a 43pc fall in half-year operating profit to £707m and will no longer provide monthly updates due to the volatile markets.

Johann Rupert, 66, who with his family controls the firm, has scrapped the role of chief executive. Instead Richemont, which also owns Mont Blanc, will be led by a group of executives from various divisions.

South African Rupert, a father of three, said as executive chairman he would become ‘an air traffic controller of egos’.

Almost all of the board members are men aged 50 or more – there is just one woman.

‘I want to see less grey haired men,’ said Rupert.