El Corte Inglés renews its leadership and appoints Santiago Bau as new general director

Draft movements in the dome El Corte Inglés (ECI). The CEO of the distribution group since July last year, the Argentine Gastón Bottazzini, is leaving the company “by mutual agreement”, as reported by the company in a statement. In addition, the until now corporate general director Santiago Bau Arrechea assumes the general direction of ECI. For his part, the until now deputy general secretary of the board of directors Rafael Diaz Yeregui has been named general secretary with the rank of general director. The retailer has highlighted that it “assumes the management of legal advice, sustainability and human resources.” Bau and Díaz will report directly to the Monitoring Committee of the Board of Directorsheaded by the president of El Corte Inglés Marta Álvarez, and which is made up of Cristina Álvarez and José Ramón de Hoces as members.

With a long career at Goldman Sachs

The distributor has shown their gratitude for the “professionalism as well as their work and dedication to El Corte Inglés” and highlighted that his departure occurs “by mutual agreement” after a period of reflection between both parties. In addition, the board of directors has appointed Alvaro Parron as the new director of the Real Estate area, replacing Javier Catena. In this way, the distribution group renews the first line of its leadership. Bau Arrechea landed at ECI in March 2022 as corporate general director, a position he held until today. The executive rises within the group after a long career at the investment bank Goldman Sachs. He has a degree in Law and Business Administration and Management from ICADE, as well as in Political Science and Sociology from UNED. In addition to having an MBA from Harvard University.

For his part, the new secretary general, Rafael Díaz Yereguijoined ECI in 2021 as corporate legal director and, since 2022, he has been deputy secretary general. Díaz has a degree in Business Administration and Management and Law from the Autonomous University of Madrid. He has been an investment banking legal advisor in Barclays and, later, he reached the rank of partner in the Pérez-Llorca law firm.

Good business performance

The changes at the top of El Corte Inglés coincide with a time of recovery for the distribution giant, which closed its last fiscal year with a net profit of 521 million euros (+6.7%) and a 4.3% increase in revenues on a comparable basis, reaching 16,675 million. In this context, the company reported that its gross margin had grown by 4.5% and that the net financial debt had been reduced by 263 million, placing it below 1.5 times the Ebitda. All ECI businesses have contributed to these good figures, especially Retail which recorded global revenues of 12,976 million euros in the last financial year as well as Fashion and Beauty which increased its sales by 4.9% to 5,704 million.

Ambitious investment plan

All this, when the distribution group has its new Strategic Plan 2025-2030 since last March 1. A new roadmap that sets the goal of investing more than 3,000 million euros over the next 5 years for the remodeling of stores, as well as for the expansion of its businesses (textiles, insurance, food…) and the strengthening of its logistical and technological muscle.