GWA Group head Tim Salt has stepped down suddenly for undisclosed “personal reasons’’

The CEO who helped revive the flagging fortunes of one of Australia’s leading bathroom and kitchenware suppliers over the past five years has unexpectedly resigned.

SURPRISE DEPARTURE

He helped revive the flagging fortunes of one of Australia’s leading bathroom and kitchenware suppliers over the past five years.

But Tim Salt, boss of Brisbane-based GWA Group, has stepped down suddenly without providing any explanation for the shock move.

The company said Monday only that he had resigned for unspecified “personal reasons’’.

Salt leaves behind a nice little earner, which delivered him a $1.67m compensation package in the last financial year. He also still controls a GWA share portfolio valued at more than $2.2m, as well as plenty of unvested performance rights.

Rather than tap an internal replacement to step into the breach on an interim basis, GWA has retained an outsider, Sydney bizoid Urs Meyerhans, to take the helm while head hunters search for a permanent candidate.

Tim Salt

Chairman Darryl McDonough told City Beat that Salt only informed the board of his decision on Friday. He maintained that he doesn’t know the reason behind Salt’s exit--and insisted he didn’t ask.

“When he told me, I was surprised but I accepted his decision,’’ he said.

That sparked a busy weekend to lock in a replacement but GWA knew they could make a pitch to Meyerhans, who previously headed up Tetra Tech Asia Pacific and Coffey Consulting. He also held roles at Wattyl, United Group and WMC Resources.

Notably, there’s no experience there with taps or toilets, the meat-and-potatoes of GWA.

But it turns out Meyerhans worked at Coffey with former Suncorp boss John Mulcahy, who now serves as GWA’s deputy chairman.

TURNING IT AROUND

Salt, a 56-year-old Pom, came to GWA in late 2015 after a seven-year stint as head of global drinks giant Diageo Australia, which flogs Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Bundaberg Rum and Gordon’s Gin.

His consumer brand experience also included prior postings with Campbell Arnott’s, Lion Nathan and PepsiCo.

He replaced Peter Crowley, whose 12-year reign at GWA included the sale of non-core businesses but also a growing struggle flogging the staple lines of bathroom and kitchen goods.

Market analysts credit Salt with masterminding a sustained revival of the group.

“He has overseen an awesome turnaround of the business,’’ one player familiar with the company told us.

“GWA was on its knees. It was in a mess and Salt came in and cleaned it up.’’

In comments included in GWA’s announcement to the market, Salt alluded to the changes he drove, especially the divestment of a door business in 2018 and acquisition of the Methven tap and shower business the following year.

McDonough praised him for leading the company “with distinction’’ and said the restructuring efforts returned GWA to its place as “the leading provider of water solutions products and systems to households and commercial premises’’.

Salt’s departure comes just two weeks after the group reported a 17 per cent fall in net profit to $20m over the half-year to December largely as a result of a slowdown in unit and commercial projects.

But he predicted that the federal government’s HomeBuilder and other incentive programs would help the business for the remainder of 2021.