David Thomas, the former chief executive of David Jones, has ruled himself out of the running for the top job at rival Myer after flagging his departure from Brandbank Group, owned by Peter Lew.

Myer boss John King is still at the helm but it is reasonable to think that he will eventually move back to the United States where his family lives. He has been steering the company since 2018 and has slowly turned the fortunes at the department store chain.