Luxottica Group Continues Trading Lower Following Co-CEO Departure

Shares of Luxottica Group SpA (ADR) LUX announced late Friday afternoon that its co-CEO, Adil Mehboob-Khan, will leave the company.

Luxottica noted that its Board of Directors held an "appropriate review and necessary assessment" of Khan in reaching its decision to terminate the employment and administration relationship.

Khan will be paid a redundancy incentive equal to the 6.80 million Euro, in addition to the severance pay linked to a consensual termination of the employment relationship effective February 29, 2016.

In a 6-K filing, Luxoticca detailed a simplification of its organization structure. Leonardo Del Vecchio, the company's "founder and inspirer of the Group culture and strategic vision," will now assume executive responsibilities for Markets. Massimo Vian will maintain his title of CEO for Product and Operations.

Luxoticca also stated in its regulatory filing that it ended fiscal 2015 with a total adjusted net sales growth of 17 percent (or 5.5 percent on a constant currency basis) to 9 billion Euros. Wholesale net sales rose 12.5 percent during the year to 3.6 billion Euros while its retail operations saw a net sales growth of 20.3 percent to 5.4 billion Euros.

Shares of Luxottica opened for trading at $59.11 and hit an intra-day low of $56.96. Shortly after noon, the stock was trading at $58.86, down 4.35 percent on the day.