Claire's promotes Beatrice Lafon to CEO

Teen fashion accessories and jewellery retailer Claire’s has promoted its European president Beatrice

Lafon to chief executive of the company, following the resignation of current CEO James Fielding.

Claire’s chairman Peter Copses said: "In Beatrice, we have a strong leader with deep retail experience. She has an intimate understanding of our business, and a track record of driving sales in existing locations and successfully opening new stores.

“The Board of Directors is highly confident in Beatrice's ability to lead Claire's. We are very fortunate to have such a well-qualified successor within the Company."

The change takes effect immediately and comes as the accessories retailer reported a dramatic drop in both sales and profits in the fourth quarter of its financial year. Claire’s reported that net income fell to 7.4 million dollars for the period ending February 1, from 42.2 million dollars in the same period in the previous year.

Lafon, has more than 30 years experience in the retail sector, and prior to joining Claire’s she worked for Dutch group Etam, TJ Hughes, Animal and Woolworths.

Commenting on her promotion, Lafon added: "As president of Claire's Europe over the last three years, I have operated a multinational business across 15 countries in a challenging macro-economic environment. As CEO, I look forward to creating value by leveraging best practices, by maximizing the unique talents of both our North American and European teams as well as by harnessing the strength of our sourcing teams based in Asia. In partnership with our franchisees all over the world, we will seek to maximize Claire's global sales and EBITDA."