Luxembourg's GFG announces management shuffle, 8% drop in NMV in 2024

Gunjan Soni, the company’s chief operating officer (COO) and CEO of Southeast Asia business, Zalora, has resigned from her position and stepped down from GFG’s management board. The group COO role will not be replaced, GFG said in a press release.

“I am delighted to welcome Helen to the management board. Her appointment is a natural progression that reinforces our focus on strategic financial leadership. Helen’s expertise and dedication have been invaluable to GFG, and her expanded role will be crucial as we continue to execute our strategic plan and drive toward our longer-term financial ambitions. I extend my sincere appreciation to Gunjan for her significant contributions to GFG and Zalora and wish her well in her next steps. I’m confident in our team’s ability to adapt and look forward to working more closely with the strong leadership we have in SEA as I assume the interim CEO role,” said Christoph Barchewitz, chief executive officer at GFG.

“Over the past six years, Gunjan has been instrumental in shaping Zalora and navigating the business through different stages of its evolution. She successfully developed Zalora’s scalable B2B platform services business and led technological innovation with early adoption of AI tools. The supervisory board wishes her every success in her future endeavours. We now welcome Helen to the Management Board and congratulate her on this well-deserved appointment. Her proven leadership as CFO gives us every confidence in her ability to guide GFG alongside Christoph, who we thank for his commitment to the Group as he takes on an increased focus on Zalora in the interim,” said Cynthia Gordon, chairman of the GFG Supervisory Board.

The company has also released its preliminary report for the full year 2024, reporting an 8 per cent year-over-year (YoY) decline in net merchandise value (NMV) on a constant currency basis. The reported NMV is at the top end of the company's guidance range, which had projected a decline of 8-12 per cent.

In the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2024, GFG’s NMV was flat overall with its two largest segments, Australia and Latin America, returning to growth with 9 per cent and 2 per cent increases, respectively. Southeast Asia’s (SEA) NMV declined 20 per cent YoY.

GFG has also confirmed that its full year adjusted EBITDA is within the middle of its adjusted EBITDA guidance range of €16 to €28 million (~$16.66 to $29.16 million). The group achieved substantial year-on-year improvements in normalised free cash flow and closed the year with €222 million (~$229.4 million) pro-forma cash and €164 million (~$169.95 million) pro-forma net cash.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (SG)