Vacuum cleaner retailer Godfreys has scrapped dividend payments as new chief executive Jason Gowie embarks on an urgent overhaul including potential store closures, heavy cost-cutting and reinvestment in the brand to try to arrest an alarming sales decline.

Mr Gowie, who started in the role on December 4, said Godfreys faced an uphill battle in reinvigorating the business but he was confident that the company would still be around in its current form and was not headed for oblivion.