20 years since Chrono24 was based and 13 years because it was taken over and geared up with rockets by co-CEOs Tim Stracke and Holger Felgner, the corporate’s traders, who’ve collectively raised 200 million euros, have come to the conclusion {that a} new CEO is required to take the enterprise to the following degree.
The corporate did not nominate anybody for an interview this morning, so the massive query is why is Carsten Keller the person for the job and what’s the new mission?
Mr. Keller joins after eight years at Zalando, a listed German style and wonder e-commerce firm valued at €5.76 billion, the place he was CEO of Related Retail, a third-party market that connects 1000’s of manufacturers and retailers to the 25 million lively customers of crucial style web site.
Working as an government at a publicly traded firm might be a sign of why Mr. Keller was employed.
Chrono24 traders had been rumored to have wished an IPO in 2021, however the timing did not appear proper as market sentiment for tech shares had cooled.
As secondary watch market costs collapsed and transactions dried up within the second quarter of 2022, that IPO appeared (and seems) even additional away.
Not even the star energy of Christiano Ronaldo, who turned an investor this summer season, made the distinction.
Earlier than Chrono24 traders exit, the corporate should show that it may be profitable in a totally completely different secondary market than it was a number of years in the past.
Costs have been falling since April 2022 and present no indicators of bottoming out. Shoppers are, after all, sitting tight and hoping that one other month will carry additional worth cuts.
Flippers, who proliferated within the post-pandemic increase, can nonetheless flip a revenue if they’ll purchase the suitable watches from licensed sellers, however there may be little or no buying and selling between them, which is the driving power behind hovering costs in 2021 was.
For the overwhelming majority of non-hyped watches, costs are pretty secure, however momentum is low, so fewer offers are being achieved.
Mr. Stracke has all the time stated that Chrono24 is operationally worthwhile, however lately it has been so printed accountsreport gross sales of 103.2 million euros and an working lack of 13 million euros for the 2021 monetary yr.
On the constructive facet, the corporate nonetheless had money and money equivalents of €53.6 million on the finish of the yr, thanks partly to a financing spherical that introduced in €74.7 million.
In September final yr, Mr Stracke informed WatchPro that Chrono24 had 10 million month-to-month customers and over 500,000 watches on the market.
The press launch issued at the moment asserting Mr. Keller’s appointment as CEO states that the location presently promotes 530,000 timepieces and has greater than 9 million month-to-month lively prospects worldwide.
Taking each statements at face worth, it may be concluded that Chrono24’s lively viewers has shrunk by 10% and the availability on its platform has elevated by 30,000 watches.
It could be more healthy if provide was tighter and Chrono24’s target market grew, which appears unlikely within the coming yr as falling demand for brand spanking new luxurious watches is prone to result in a rise in dumping and discounting on the grey market.
Chrono24 is designed to generate income in good instances and unhealthy. The corporate owns no shares, besides in its UK operation The Barn by Chrono24, which was previously referred to as Xupes earlier than its buy in 2021.
Because of this the corporate’s stability sheet was not affected as the costs of its most traded watches halved.
However Chrono24 wants growing transaction volumes and common transaction values, which is tough to think about when the costs of probably the most traded luxurious watches have virtually halved within the final 20 months.
Moreover, these transactions have to be carried out on the platform and never “below the counter,” as prospects full their transactions off-site to keep away from charges.
Solely traders know whether or not this may occur and whether or not commissions and different charges will enhance.
Mr. Keller actually has a discouraging inbox as he takes the reins in January, however Chrono24 has arguably already weathered the worst of the present downturn and is hoping for a greater 2024.
Editor’s Word: This text has been up to date primarily based on a earlier model reporting the monetary outcomes of a subsidiary of the holding firm, MPN Market Networks GmbH.
