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Francois Henri-Pinault, the French luxury goods magnate, has unveiled a shake-up of his PPR conglomerate in which he will take control of Gucci Group and Robert Polet, the head of PPR’s luxury business since 2004, will leave the company.

Mr Pinault has been under pressure to undertake a shake-up of PPR to compete with its stronger rival, LVMH.

The restructuring, effective from March 1, will see PPR’s luxury goods brands, which include Gucci, Bottega Veneta and YSL, regrouped into a rebranded Luxury Business Group. PPR’s Sports & Lifestyle Group will contain assets including its 71 per cent stake in sportswear brand Puma.

Alexis Babeau, who was previously chief operating officer of Gucci Group, has been appointed deputy CEO of the newly branded Luxury Business Group.

“This new framework will enable them to better leverage the group’s stature to reach their full potential,” Mr Pinault said. He also thanked the former Unilever executive Mr Polet “for his commitment and dedication in leading Gucci Group to where it is now”.

Paul Deneve, formerly chief executive of Lanvin, has been appointed chief executive of Yves Saint Laurent, replacing Valerie Hermann, who has “chosen to seize a new career opportunity in the United States,” according to PPR.

Mr Pinault unveiled the restructuring at the presentation of PPR’s 2010 results, where the company announced a 1.4 per cent rise in annual net profit to €965m, higher than consensus forecasts. Group revenues rose 7.5 per cent to €14.6bn.

PPR’s results nevertheless fell short of those of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods group by sales. LVMH on February 4 reported that net profit had risen 73 per cent to €3bn last year, on a 19 per cent increase in sales to €20.3bn.

Looking ahead to this year, Mr Pinault forecast that PPR would “deliver a better financial performance than in 2010”.

PPR has already taken significant steps to restructure its business over the past year.

Last year, it agreed to sell its Conforama furniture until to Steinhoff International Holdings for €1.2bn. That followed the 2009 public offering of its CFAO African distribution business, a deal that raised €806m. Mr Pinault has said he intends to sell the group’s Fnac retail chain and its Redcats home shopping unit when conditions are favourable.

Mr Polet’s exit had been rumoured in the fashion industry since he moved his office from London last year to Switzerland. In his seven years at the head of Gucci Group, the luxury business doubled its revenues and more than tripled its operating profit.