Myer chair JoAnne Stephenson thanked the executive for his “extraordinary contribution to the company” and said that at the end of King’s more than six-year tenure next year,he will have delivered a “remarkable turn-around in the positioning and performance of the business”.
When King took the top job in 2018,his former colleague Mark Gifford,then chief financial officer at the upmarket British department store House of Fraser,described it as“the suicide job.”
Myer’s sales and earnings had fallen dramatically as consumers increasingly shifted towards specialty traders and online shopping,and the company’s balance sheet was stretched to the limit. Its share price had shed half its value in the year leading up to his appointment.
Soon after he joined the business,King establishedMyer’s “customer first plan” – focused on transforming the in-store shopping experience,reducing floor space and cutting costs. The plan,which reduced overall floor space by 11 per cent,saw Myer return to paying regular dividends to its shareholders.
In March,the department store giant posted a profit of $65 million for the half – itsbest result in nearly a decade and double the full financial year result in 2018. The company said then that it would chase $1 billion in annual digital sales.
During most of King’s tenure,billionaire retail veteran Solomon Lew pressured Myer’s board over concerns about the department store’s underperformance. The rag trade billionaire now has a 25 per cent stake in the business and recently installed former Myer Grace Bros boss Terrence McCartney on the board as his representative.