This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
DEPARTMENT store Myer will reduce the number of directors on its board as well as cut fees following pressure from its second largest shareholder Wilson Asset Management. At the same time, competitor David Jones is accelerating the closure of 10 stores.
Myer announced non-executive directors Lyndsey Cattermole and Julie Ann Morrison have decided to retire and Myer will not seek to replace them.
It comes after Wilson AM suggested Myer reduce the number of directors on the board to reflect companies of a similar market capitalisation.
Wilson AM’s chairman Geoff Wilson also proposed that Myer’s directors take a pay cut permanently.
In response, Myer’s chairman Garry Hounsell yesterday said directors fees will be reduced for at least two years.
Hounsell said at the onset of COVID-19, the management team undertook a detailed review of all costs across the business. For a period during April, when all stores were closed and team members were stood down due to COVID-19, the chairman and other non-executive directors elected to forego their director fees. Additionally, for a period in May and June, the non-executive directors elected to receive reduced director fees.
Furthermore, from 1 July 2020, the chairman and non-executive Directors also elected to reduce their annual base fee to $250,000 (from $300,000) and $100,000 (from $120,000) respectively. This represents the third reduction to chairman and non-executive director fees since FY18. These reduced fees will remain in place for at least two years.
Meanwhile South Africa’s Woolworths Holdings is pushing ahead the closure of up to 10 David Jones stores.
The upmarket retailer currently has 47 stores around Australia and New Zealand.
David Jones confirmed it will reduce 20% of its floorspace and close stores “where this makes sense”.
In July this year David Jones sold its menswear store in Melbourne’s Bourke St Mall for $121 million. It also engaged UBS to undertake a review of its property holdings and floorspace utilisation that could also lead to 310 Bourke St Mall and its Elizabeth St store in Sydney being divested.
