Mark McInnes
Disgraced former David Jones chief Mark McInnes is set to return to retailing after being picked as chief executive for Solomon Lews Premier Investments retail businesses.
The appointment opens a new chapter for Mr McInnes who resigned as chief executive from David Jones amid allegations of sexual misconduct in June of last year.
We are pleased to bring Mark into the Premier team and I am very much looking forward to working with him both to improve the performance of Just Group, said Premiers chairman Mr Lew in a statement filed this morning with the Australian Securities Exchange.
Mr McInnes will take on the role on April 4. Premier owns Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Jacqui E, and Peter Alexander with about 950 stores through Australia and New Zealand.
Billionaire Lew is also expected to announce soon the purchase of retail brands JAG and Diana Ferrari from the ailing Colorado group.
Experienced retailer
The appointment of Mr McInnes will help Premier cope with the expected expansion, said Morningstar retail equities analyst Peter Esho.
Heres a guy with a lot of experience in his ability to turn around David Jones, said Mr Esho. Premiere is at the point where it has cash on its balance sheet and its been waiting to do a transaction for a while.There have been several large retailers that have fallen over recently. Colorado looks like the most obvious target.If Premier picks up Colorado, it will expand their retail base to over 1000 locations, said Mr Esho.
You need a retail operator thats really experienced thats going to run whats probably going to become the largest owner of retail stores in Australia, he said.
Exit from DJs
Last June, Mr McInnes exited David Jones in stunning fashion when the upmarket retailer announced his resignation, mutually agreed between him and the company’s board.
“As a chief executive officer and as a person I have a responsibility to many, and today I formally acknowledge that I have committed serious errors of judgement and have inexcusably let down the female staff member,” his statement said at the time.
What followed was a lengthy legal battle – dubbed Australia’s biggest sexual harassment case – with former publicist Kristy Fraser-Kirk suing David Jones and Mr McInnes for as much as $37 million before agreeing on a legal settlement with the retailer and its former boss worth about $850,000 in October.
Ms Fraser-Kirk, 27 at the time of the allegation, said the original sum she had sought would go to charity. The attention Ms Fraser-Kirk brought to the issue of workplace sexual harassment kicked off a flurry of similar cases. Complaints under the Sex Discrimination Act jumped 50 per cent in 2010, according to the Human Rights Commission.
‘Right person’
Premier today indicated it is confident Mr McInnes is able to bounce back.
The Premier Board is confident that Mark is the right person to take Premier and Just Group to the next level of performance and growth which will be great for our shareholders and staff, said Mr Lew, in the statement.
Mr McInnes, whose turnaround in the upscale David Jones was cut short when allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced in the middle of last year, levelled by former publicist Kristy Fraser-Kirk.
The former David Jones executive has been given a mandate to to pursue growth opportunities for Premier Retail, Premier said. Mr McInnes will also join the Just Group board.
In the statement filed to the ASX, Premier said Mr McInnes had a proven record as one of Australias most successful retailers with a track record of operational improvements and value creation for shareholders.
Just Groups sales were unchanged at $458.4 million in the half, hurt by slumping consumer demand and poor weather, not to mention online competition from overseas and local rivals.
The disappointing sales performance reflects a very challenging retail environment, characterised by weaker apparel industry sales and extensive discounting, Premier said.
More to come
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