RBC announced on Friday that it had lowered its price target for Kering from €480 to €440, believing that a "more radical" overhaul of the Gucci brand was now necessary.
In view of the extent of the drop in sales reported this week by the luxury group, the analyst believes that a significant relaunch of the brand is necessary, contrary to what the management team has been able to assure so far.
In its note, RBC expresses particular concern about the widening gap between the failure of the label's most emblematic lines and the much warmer reception given to the new collections designed by Sabato de Sarno.
And despite Kering's support for Jean-François Palus, Gucci's current CEO, the financial intermediary points out that the market does not share the same opinion.
"In view of the deteriorating financial performance, the appointment of a recognized executive with a favorable track record would, in our view, be welcome, in that it would encourage a faster turnaround, the emergence of new ideas from outside and the arrival of new challenges", it adds.
RBC - which maintains its 'outperform' rating on the stock - believes that a turnaround of the brand is still possible, but stresses that this is likely to take longer than expected.
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A global Luxury group, Kering manages the development of a series of renowned Houses in Fashion, Leather Goods, and Jewelry: Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Brioni, Boucheron, Pomellato, Dodo, Qeelin, Ginori 1735, as well as Kering Eyewear and Kering Beauté.
By placing creativity at the heart of its strategy, Kering enables its Houses to set new limits in terms of their creative expression while crafting tomorrow's Luxury in a sustainable and responsible way. It captures these beliefs in its signature: Empowering Imagination.
In 2023, Kering had 48,964 employees and restated revenue of EUR 19.6 billion.
At the end of 2023, the Group had a network of 1,771 stores under its own management, located primarily in Western Europe (367), North America (316), Japan (238), and in emerging countries (698).
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Western Europe (27.6%), Japan (7.2%), Asia/Pacific (35%), North America (23%) and other (7.2%).
KERING 
