report

DEAR ShAREhOLDERS
chairman’s message
2011 was a difficult year for Charles Vögele. In
addition to the challenging economic environment,
the strong Swiss franc and the unusually warm
autumn, certain internal factors also caused problems.
In particular, weak logistics processes led
to bottlenecks in the availability of merchandise.
Operating results deteriorated significantly again
in the second semester as a result of all the above
factors. The marked fall in net sales and profit
in the 2011 financial year represented a setback in
our efforts to comprehensively modernize the
Charles Vögele Group. The Board of Directors and
Group Management decided to continue with
the basic corporate strategy based on three pillars­
fascination, processes and growth. However,
this strategy needs to be adjusted to current market
conditions and customer requirements.
Immediate corrective measures: new Group
Management structure and single brand strategy
Faced by a disappointing performance, the Board
of Directors introduced far­reaching corrective
measures in September. Owing to differences of
opinion about the implementation of corporate
strategy, Charles Vögele parted company with André
Maeder and appointed Frank Beeck as its new
CEO. In addition, the Board of Directors appointed
me as its new Chairman. Since then I have been
working closely with Group Management in order
to ensure a smooth transition and to implement
the necessary corrective measures as quickly as
possible. In the first phase, we defined a new
structure for Group Management and revised the
brand strategy. Within Group Management there
needs to be clearly defined responsibility for each
of the three core processes, so the current Group
Management team, consisting of CEO Frank Beeck
and CFO Markus Voegeli, is being augmented by
a COO (Chief Operating Officer) and a CCO (Chief
Commercial Officer). The CCO function will be
handled until further notice by Frank Beeck in tandem
with his CEO role.
5
The clear positioning and focusing of the Charles
Vögele brand is crucial. Our customers have to be
able to see what we stand for and what our
strengths are. The three separate brands Casa
Blanca, Biaggini and Kingfield are not distinct
enough from each other in shoppers’ eyes. This is
why we have decided to concentrate in future on
the overall Charles Vögele brand, and dispense with
the separate brands.
Foundations in place for a successful future
Without wishing to gloss over the latest results: I do
want to emphasize that plenty is going well for
the Charles Vögele Group too. The company is well
positioned internationally and maintains a presence
in some very promising growth markets. André
Maeder liberated Charles Vögele from its outmoded
image and put it back on the radar of the modern
fashion world. He gave the group back its sense of
self­worth and increased its fashion expertise.
The Board of Directors and Group Management would
like to thank André Maeder for his valuable work.
The top priority now is to focus the company consistently
on the needs of its customers, and on the
enduring stabilization of the logistics and the related
processes. The group is full of teams of very
capable and highly motivated employees. They
are all ready to tackle the current challenges and
master them successfully. I would like to thank
all of our employees for the great work that they do
every day. I would also like to thank our cus tomers
for their loyalty, and you our shareholders, for your
trust and patience. I can assure you that we are
all fully committed to improving the Company’s
operational performance.
With best wishes,
Hans Ziegler, Chairman of the Board of Directors
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