C&A appoints new country directors in France and Germany

By

Robin Driver

Published
Jan 29, 2019

C&A announced a reshuffle in its European management on Monday: as Mohamad Bouyaala becomes chief operations officer of C&A Europe, Jean-Marie Malbranke will replace him as country director of Germany, leaving his current role at the head of the company’s French subsidiary to be taken over by Damien Defforey.

In his new position leading C&A Europe’s largest market, Malbranke will oversee a network of 450 stores and report to Bouyaala, thereby ensuring a certain continuity throughout the transition process. Malbranke, whose new appointment is effective 1 February 2019,joined C&A France in June 2018, having accumulated over two decades of experience in retail, notably as the head of international collaborations and private label verticalization at REWE Group in Cologne.
 
As Malbranke’s successor as director of C&A France, Defforey comes to the company from Primark Italy where he has served as CEO and chairman since September 2015. As he steps into his new role, he will report to Tjeerd van der Zee, chief financial officer and chief operations transformation officer of C&A Europe.

The executive reshuffle is in part due to a shift in the company’s strategic focus towards key markets such as Germany and Switzerland. In his new role, Bouyaala will oversee the company’s operations in both of these countries and play an important part in the definition of the group’s strategy moving forward.

 
“Store traffic in our European markets, as well as support for our central departments and projects are determining factors for the success of our business,” explained C&A Europe CEO Alain Caparros in a press release. “In order to progress with our operations and projects in a more targeted manner, we have made the choice to reinforce our management team by carrying out these internal changes.”
 
The company’s new strategy also involves the roll-out of a new store concept and collaborations with other textile and accessory brands.
 
C&A, which is in the process of restructuring, currently operates 1,900 stores in 21 countries, 1,500 of which are in Europe.