Parfums Dior boss takes senior UK cosmetics post

Luxury goods group Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton (LVMH) has promoted managing director of Parfums Christian Dior UK Ruth Newton Jones to country managing director of LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics Group. She will also oversee the company’s New Ventures brands, including Benefit, in the UK.

Newton Jones’s appointment follows the promotion of LVMH Perfumes Cosmetics managing director Nicolas Cordier to managing director of the international LVMH New Ventures Group in Paris. Newton Jones will remain in charge of Parfums Christian Dior.

LVMH has faced difficulties over the past year as its sales have been affected by the slowdown in tourism, which accounts for a significant part of the group’s sales. At the company’s AGM earlier this month, chairman Bernard Arnault claimed these issues were no longer a threat.

Newton Jones says business at the cosmetics and perfumes division has held up, despite shaky times for the rest of group. She claims that it will see 15 per cent growth this year compared with nine per cent last year. LVMH will launch two new perfumes this year, one for Givenchy and the other for Guerlain.

Newton Jones started her career as a marketer for Procter & Gamble and also spent 14 years at L’Oréal, where she was senior product manager before becoming the first marketing director of its Prestige & Collections division, which included the Ralph Lauren fragrance. She joined LVMH four years ago as managing director of Guerlain.