(BFM Stock Exchange) – The company announced the appointment of a new managing director, in the person of Michael Fiddelke, who started as an intern 22 years ago in the company. The manager will have to straighten sales at half mast.

Unknown in our regions, Target remains an essential brand in the United States where the distribution group has nearly 2,000 points of sale. This a chain of department stores at modest prices offers a wide variety of items, ranging from food to household appliances, including clothing and furniture.

A sign of the popularity of the brand across the Atlantic, a film, “Career Opportunities” (“A place to take” in French), released in 1991 with Jennifer Connelly, takes place in part in a Target department store.

Fourth Generalist American distributor, Target has been suffering for several years, losing market share for the benefit of Walmart and Costco or the mastodon of e-commerce, Amazon. Its sales fell 0.8% last year, and the action fell by 34% over a year.

“An extremely competitive landscape in a context of lukewarm consumption expenses has something to torment Target,” wrote Morningstar in May.

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A former intern becomes director general

The board of directors of the company had to think that an electroshock was necessary. Target announced this Wednesday, August 20, the appointment of a new Managing Director, Michael Fiddelke, who has around twenty years of seniority at Target on Wednesday 20, August 20, which had arrived as an intern in 2003).

The leader will succeed Brian Cornell who will retain his functions until February 1, 2026, so as to ensure a fluid transition.

“I intervene urgently to relaunch activity and reconnect with profitable growth,” said Fiddelke, 49, at a conference call with journalists, according to comments reported by Bloomberg.

“I saw our best moments and others when we were not at our best, and that sheds light on my sincere evaluation of the areas in which we have work to be accomplished today,” he added.

The work is substantial because Target sales continue to crumble. In the second quarter, the group announced on Wednesday August 20, a decline of 3.2% of its sales of comparable stores on Wednesday 20% of its sales, at 25.2 billion dollars, while its operating profit fell from 19.4% to $ 1.317 billion and its profit per share dropped from $ 20.2% to $ 2.05.

Walmart train and more exposed to customs surcharge

All of these figures prove to be roughly online with analysts’ forecasts, which, according to a consensus cited by Bank of America, awaited a drop in revenues in comparable data of 3.2%, an operating profit of $ 1.31 billion and a profit per share of 2.05 dollars.

However, digital sales only increased by 4.7% when consensus awaited an increase of 5.3%.

Target has maintained its objectives for the current exercise, namely a drop in its sales “Low Single Digit”, that is to say between 1% and 4%, and an adjusted share per share located between $ 7 and 9 dollars.

In Wall Street, the title plunges 8% at the start of the session. What Bloomberg perceives as a sign that investors hoped that the group would choose an external candidate to lead the group and thus bring new blood.

Last week, Bank of America lowered his opinion on the value, going from “neutral” to “underperformance”, equivalent to “sell” in its terminology. “Target underperforms its rivals (like Walmart, Editor’s note) in terms of sales, digital growth and investment,” said the establishment.

In addition, the group has a stronger exhibition than its competitors with American customs duties, with fewer levers to alleviate their impact, continued Bank of America. The bank estimates that around 50% of the costs of the goods marketed by the company are directly and indirectly exposed to customs duties, against 33% for Walmart and Costco.