Myer boss John King set to retire next year

Myer boss John King will retire in the second half of 2024 and return to the US after more than doubling the department store chain’s profit in the five years he has helmed the business.

King’s decision to move on was based on his wish to be “with his family as their health circumstances demand,” the retailer said in an announcement to the ASX on Monday morning.

Myer chairperson 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 on 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 established Myer’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 profit of $65 million for the half – its best 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.

King’s performance at Myer share parallels with his previous role at House of Fraser, where he was credited by some for the UK company’s turnaround. Just as he took Fraser online and steered it through the global financial crisis, the businessman bolstered Myer’s online presence and guided it through the pandemic.