Natura十年老将卸任，Carlucci回归掌舵加速重组

Alessandro Carlucci Divulgação Brazilian beauty company Natura announced a leadership change on Sunday, with CEO João Paulo Ferreira resigning after 10 years in the role. Chairman Alessandro Carlucci, who previously served as the company’s CEO from 2005 to 2014, will take over on October 1. He had served as a board member since last year. Fábio Barbosa, who stepped down as chairman in the first quarter to join a newly created advisory council with the company’s founders, without decision-making powers, will return as chairman. Analysis: Natura’s ‘tepid’ leadership change poses challenge SmartFit invests in franchised studios and TotalPass to sustain expansion Roche Brazil CEO embraced risk without having all the answers The changes are the latest step in the company's restructuring, which since 2022 has streamlined its operations to focus on its Latin American businesses and its Natura and Avon brands. The company sold international brands including Aesop and The Body Shop, as well as assets of Avon International, after a global expansion strategy that fell short of expectations. The leadership changes also come days after a shareholder meeting formally approved an agreement between the company and U.S. private-equity firm Advent. The deal made the fund Natura’s second-largest shareholder outside the company’s controlling block, with an 8% stake, and also allowed it to appoint two partners to the board. The step had been viewed as important to the succession process. Analysts at XP noted that the change had been in the works but required, among other things, alignment between the founders’ departure from the board—they currently sit on the advisory board—and Advent’s arrival. The bank believes the company will continue to prioritize the recovery of the Natura and Avon brands in Brazil in the short term. Following the leadership announcement, Natura shares opened Monday’s session (31) sharply higher, gaining 8% during the morning. The stock later gave up all of those gains, closing at R$8.74, unchanged from Friday’s close (28). The shares are up 17.32% this year but have fallen 3% over the past 12 months, according to Valor Data. Ferreira has spent 17 years at Natura and had served as CEO of its subsidiary Natura Cosméticos since 2016. Last year, he became CEO of the entire company after holding company Natura&Co, which housed the international brands, was dissolved and merged into the unit under his command. Combined, his tenures heading the subsidiary and the unified company totaled 10 years in 2026. His departure as CEO will take effect September 30, but his resignation as a member of the board and its advisory committees became effective last Friday (28). Carlucci will take over as CEO on October 1, and during the transition period the two are expected to work together to ensure a smooth handover, Natura told the market. The new CEO said in a press release that his focus would be to accelerate the company’s strategies already underway “in a highly competitive environment.” Analysts view the leadership change positively. Citi said Carlucci’s experience as a board member at other retail companies, including Arezzo and Lojas Renner, supports an optimistic view, even though Natura today is different from the company he led more than a decade ago. The short-term outlook, however, still calls for caution. “Although we view the change as positive, operational challenges remain, particularly related to systems integration and planning issues that are currently weighing on performance,” the bank said in a report. In the first quarter, Natura reported a wider loss and declines in sales and profitability. In the second quarter, profit fell 92.1% following technical problems in its operations, including product shortages, resulting from the simultaneous implementation of an upgrade to its SAP enterprise-management system and new integrated planning tools. According to Itaú BBA, the leadership change and Barbosa’s return as chairman continue the company’s governance restructuring, but the execution of operational targets remains the main focus following the weak second-quarter results. “In the short term, Natura still needs to resolve the issues associated with the integrated planning system, which we expect to be fully addressed by the end of 2026 or early 2027,” the bank said in a report.