Joint CEO of Luxottica Group, Adil Mehboob-Khan (pictured), is being paid more than €7m/$7.6m in severance and redundancy following the decision by the eyewear house’s board to terminate his employment after only a year. This is the third CEO to part ways with Luxottica in 18 months.

The announcement was made on Friday night after markets closed and was described as an ‘organisational simplification’ in which Chairman, Leonardo Del Vecchio now takes on Mehboob-Khan’s responsibilities for Markets, while Massimo Vian will continue in his role as CEO for Product and Operations. It came alongside news of the company’s annual results (see below).

In a statement Luxottica – the biggest eyewear player in duty free and travel retail – said: “The board of directors approved a simplification in the group’s organisational structure with a CEO and an Executive Chairman.

“Adil Khan is leaving his role as CEO for Markets and Board Member of Luxottica Group after a productive year at the side of Massimo Vian. Mr. Khan’s profile and international experience enabled him to contribute to the group’s excellent 2015 financial results and to the deep simplification process started across businesses and geographies in late 2014.”

The news sent the share price down on Monday morning to €53.90 (after a close on Friday of €57.55) with a slight recovery to end the day at €54.25.  Prior to the joint-CEO model instigated by Del Vecchio, Luxottica Group had been run successfully by Andrea Guerra – now Executive Chairman of restaurant and food retailer Eataly – for a decade to 2014.

2015 RESULTS

Luxottica Group, owner of Ray-Ban and Oakley and whose retail fascia’s include Sunglass Hut, ended 2015 with total adjusted net sales growth of +17% to €9bn/$9.8bn (+5.5% at constant exchange rates).

The driver was the retail division whose adjusted net sales rose by +20.3% (+4.5% constant rates) to €5.4bn while the wholesale division was up by +12.5% (+6.9% constant rates) to €3.6bn. The retail division’s comparable store sales rose by +3.9%. The sales breakdown by region is shown in the table below (click to enlarge).

Luxottica’s licensed brands include Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Bulgari, Chanel, Dolce&Gabbana, Michael Kors, Prada, Ralph Lauren, Tiffany & Co, and Versace.