Former Qantas loyalty boss Olivia Wirth takes up chair at Myer as sales fall at the department store

Former Qantas loyalty boss Olivia Wirth has been parachuted into the role of executive chair at department store Myer, tasked with driving the retailer’s next phase of growth. It has been a quick race to the top of Myer for Ms Wirth, who only joined the board at November’s annual general meeting. She replaces Ari Mervis after his tenure lasted just over four months. She takes on the chair role with immediate effect and will assume chief executive responsibilities following outgoing boss John King’s exit on June 3. Ms Wirth — who had been considered among the frontrunners to replace former Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce before the role ultimately went to Vanessa Hudson — said she was honoured to take up the role of executive chair “to lead one of Australia’s iconic businesses and brands into a new and exciting phase”. “Myer is loved by millions of Australians and is one of the nation’s most enduring retailers thanks to the dedication and skill of our team members, and the loyalty of our customers,” she said. “The next chapter in Myer’s story requires us to continue tackling some significant challenges and meet the changing needs of our customers. I am focused on delivering improved outcomes for our valued customers, team members and all Myer shareholders.” Mr King’s exit will come a year after he announced he would leave the top job in the second half of 2024 to return to the US to be with family for health reasons. He said he had worked closely with Ms Wirth since she joined the board and was deeply impressed with her “hands-on approach, commitment to our loyal customers and support for the team”. Mr King said he was proud of what Myer had achieved in his six years as chief executive. “We have transitioned Myer into a stronger and more profitable business, culminating in last year’s strong financial performance, which included the best sales result in almost two decades,” he said. “It has been a privilege to lead one of Australia’s highest profile companies.” The board shake-up will also see the elevation of current independent non-executive director Gary Weiss as deputy chair and lead independent director. Mr Weiss is a long-time friend of Myer’s largest shareholder, Solomon Lew, who owns almost 29 per cent of Myer. Myer executive general manager stores, Tony Sutton, has also been promoted to the new executive position of chief operating officer, reporting to Ms Wirth. It comes as Myer on Thursday reported a 3 per cent fall in total sales for the first half of the financial year to $1.8 billion, which was within the guidance provided to the market in February. Myer said group’s comparable sales ticked up 0.1 per cent over the period, despite the “challenging macro trading conditions” and when compared to a “record sales performance” this time last year. Group online sales rose 2 per cent to $390.1 million, representing 21.3 per cent of total sales. Statutory net profit fell 22.4 per cent to $50.5m. “We were able to achieve a strong comparable sales outcome, cycling our best ever first-half sales in FY2023 and continued market share gains across both stores and online,” Mr King said. It also announced it was starting a sales process to offload its brands Sass & Bide, David Lawrence and Marcs.We have a powerful multi-channel offer, which remains strong and a key point of difference for us. “We also continued to see resilience in our CBD stores . . . delivering a stronger performance than the rest of the fleet, certainly across the key retail periods of Christmas and Black Friday.” Myer also provided a trading update for the second half, saying department store comparable sales were up 4.9 per cent compared to the prior year. “Like all retailers, we continue to remain cautious about the macro-economic environment, however, we are encouraged with our results for the first six weeks of 2H, and have a strong program of deliverables to roll out during the half as part of our Customer First Plan,” Mr King said. Myer declared an interim dividend of 3¢ per share.