LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has appointed Cécile Cabanis as deputy finance director, with an eye to her succeeding Jean-Jacques Guiony as CFO.

The Hennessy Cognac and Glenmorangie whisky owner said Cabanis will begin a transition period to “prepare for a future succession” and will report to Guiony.

Guiony will assume “new responsibilities”, it said.

Cabanis joined the Danone Group in 2004, where she held a number of positions, including corporate finance director, mergers and acquisitions director and then finance director of the fresh-products division, before being appointed CFO of the dairy group. In 2021, Cabanis joined Tikehau Capital as deputy CEO.

“Succession planning for key positions is a strategic priority for the LVMH Group,” the group said.

“Jean-Jacques Guiony will prepare the progressive handover of his responsibilities to Cécile, ensuring a seamless transition in this essential role for our group. His new responsibilities will be announced in due time.”

Guiony has been at LVMH for two decades, initially as deputy financial director in 2003 before becoming CFO the following year.

It follows the promotion of Stephane Bianchi to group managing director in March. Bianchi, who joined the luxury-goods giant in 2018, succeeded Toni Belloni, who became president of the company’s business in Italy.

Total group revenue grew 3% on an organic basis to €21.04bn ($22.61bn) in the opening quarter of LVMH’s fiscal 2024.

However, its wine and spirits division saw revenue fall 16% organically to €1.69bn in the three-month period.

LVMH said Hennessy had been “impacted” during the quarter by “the cautious restocking of retailers in the US” and by “soft local demand” in China during the Chinese New Year period.

However, it added: “In both cases, the sell-out is better than the sell-in, and US depletions continued to recover.”

Guiony also expressed some optimism over the outlook for the group’s Cognac business in the US. The category has experienced struggling sales since the “pandemic party”.