El Corte Inglés Appoints Cristina Álvarez as President, Eyes Retail Growth and Debt Management

Cristina Álvarez officially becomes today the new non-executive chairman of El Corte Inglés, the second largest department store group in the world in terms of turnover. Taking over from her sister, Marta, the executive takes the helm of a company in a phase of attack after having brought its indebtedness under control, with the challenge of executing the strategic plan that envisages investments of €3 billion until 2030.

Earlier today , Cristina Álvarez announced an allocation of €650 million in the 2026-2027 financial year, which will begin next March 1st, earmarked for business development and investment.“These investments will focus on continuing with the remodeling of the stores, the growth in the technological and logistical capabilities of the group and the expansion of the business,“ the group said in a statement.

The stores and their renovation are precisely Cristina Álvarez’s areas of expertise. While Marta Álvarez is more of a product person, the new president of El Corte Inglés is a specialist in retail and store transformation.

In contrast to Marta Álvarez, a product specialist, the area of expertise of the new president of El Corte Inglés is retail

With more than thirty years of experience in the group and a degree in Economics, Cristina Álvarez has worked in different departments and has been directly involved in the renovation that has taken place in the group’s centers in recent years, with special emphasis on new store concepts.

Cristina Álvarez becomes the seventh president in the history of El Corte Inglés, after César Rodríguez,Ramón Areces, Isidoro Álvarez (father of Marta and Cristina), Dimas Gimeno, Jesús Nuño de la Rosa and Marta Álvarez. Marta and Cristina are only one year apart, the former being the oldest. Both are the largest shareholders of the company.

Marta Álvarez took over the presidency of El Corte Inglés in July 2019, with the accounts for the year just presented. The company closed that year (ended in February of the same year) improving both its revenues and net income, to €15,261 million and €310 million, respectively. Debt was one of the weak points at that time, at €2.729 billion, despite having been reduced by €638 million in one year thanks to divestments.

El Corte Inglés has improved its profitability by 65% since 2019 and has cut its debt by half

With the pandemic hitting the business hard just a few months after her ascension to the presidency, Marta Álvarez’s tenure focused on debt reduction, in part thanks to the incorporation of Mutua into its capital and the sale of a majority stake in its insurance division for more than 1.1.1 billion. With ecommerce gaining ground and consumerism transforming, another of the group’s focuses has been the reorganization of the store park.

Cristina Álvarez now takes over a healthy and growing company. Today, El Corte Inglés is a giant that has improved its profitability by 65% compared to 2019, having closed the last financial year (ended in February last year) with a net result of €512 million. Debt today stands at €1.73 billion, almost half that of 2019, although the peak of indebtedness was reached in 2020, with the pandemic.

In the last financial year, El Corte Inglés’ overall revenue stood at €16.67 billion, compared to the €16.34 billion the company posted in 2023. The figure for the last financial year is below that of 2019, in a context of transformation of the department store business.

The strategic plan that will guide Cristina Alvarez’s presidency began in March 2025. In the investment phase, the group will focus on aspects such as store remodeling, business expansion and growth in logistics and technological capabilities.

To implement this, the new non-executive chairwoman will maintain the current management organization, the result of the umpteenth restructuring of the group, which took place last October with the departure of Gastón Bottazzini as CEO. The start of the Cristina Álvarez era begins with Santiago Bau as CEO (with direct responsibility for all businesses, in addition to the corporate and financial area) and Rafael Díaz Yeregui as General Secretary of the company, with the rank of CEO (assuming the legal, sustainability and human resources departments).

Following the appointment of Álvarez, who was elected chairwoman on November 26th by the group’s board of directors, although she takes office today, she will continue to chair the appointments and remuneration committee of the company’s management body. From today, she will also chair the monitoring committee and, therefore, the supervision of the strategic plan.