The appointment of Andrea Guerra as CEO of the Prada group anticipated yesterday will be made official in the board of directors of January 26 and is a very clear signal on the short and medium-term future of the company where – for about 40 days more – Miuccia Prada will be at the operational leadership and Patrizio Bertelli, in the role of co-executive managing directors. The press release released yesterday, at the close of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where the Prada group has been listed since 2011, came after days of rumors about the arrival of Guerra, one of the best-known Italian managers with the most solid curriculum in companies of the made in Italy, in its broadest sense: after ten years at Luxottica (2004-2014), Guerra moved to Eataly (2016-2020) and then to Lvmh, the largest luxury group in the world, French but with a very strong presence in Italy and with prestigious Italian maisons in its portfolio, such as Fendi and Loro Piana, for whose development strategies Guerra, in Lvmh, was responsible.
The appointment of Andrea Guerra, born in 1965, is a way to prepare the Prada group (which also has the Miu Miu, Car Shoe, Church’s, Marchesi 1824 and Luna Rossa brands in its portfolio) for the authentic passing of the generational baton, when to lead the company, presumably in three years, perhaps even sooner, will be Lorenzo Bertelli, currently head of corporate social responsibility of the group and eldest son of Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli. There will be changes for them too on January 26: the designer will remain director of directors and creative director of Miu Miu and Prada together with Raf Simons.
The unprecedented “creative couple” was announced in February 2020, arousing – at the time – some perplexity and (futile) speculation. Almost three years later, the choice proved to be extremely successful and Simons’ commitment ever greater, so much so that ten days ago he announced the closure of the brand that bears his name (it goes without saying that this decision also led to new, but always futile, speculations on Miuccia Prada’s disengagement from the style office). Patrizio Bertelli in January will become president of the Prada group and Paolo Zannoni executive vice president of the board of directors and president of Prada Holding.
Guerra’s appointment crowns the best year ever for the Prada group: in the first six months, turnover grew by 22% to 1.9 billion, with excellent profitability ratios (gross margin of 77.7%, ebit margin of 17 .4%). At the beginning of November, the report by Area Studi Mediobanca on the global fashion industry indicated the group as the first among Italians in terms of turnover. In the same days, the Prada brand climbed the annual Interbrand ranking.