Super Retail CEO Anthony Heraghty silent on scandal

Super Retail CEO Anthony Heraghty ruled out taking questions on potential legal action by staffers at his presentation to a Sydney conference on Thursday.

Super Retail Group CEO Anthony Heraghty. Picture: Paul Harris

Super Retail CEO Anthony Heraghty ruled out taking questions on potential legal action by staffers, including allegations of the “non-disclosure” of a relationship with former human resources chief Jane Kelly, at his presentation to a Sydney conference on Thursday.

Ahead of a question and answer session at the Macquarie Australia Conference after his presentation about the company’s strategy, he said he would not take questions about the company’s statement to the ASX in April about “potential litigation that the company faces around employment”.

He told the audience, made up largely of fund managers, that anyone asking about the potential legal action would be directed to the company’s initial statement to the ASX on April 26.

Mr Heraghty left the meeting room immediately after his presentation to attend investor briefings. In its ASX statement of April 26 the Super Retail board said it expecting two staffers, represented by Harmers Workplace Lawyers, to soon begin legal action against the group.

It said it expected the allegations in the proceedings to include the non-disclosure of a relationship between Mr Heraghty and Ms Kelly, who left the company last year, as well as “inappropriate company travel, bullying, victimisation and adverse treatment”.

The board said it had investigated the matter but the allegations had not been substantiated.

Harmers said in a later statement that it had “clear proof of an intimate relationship” between the two “and thus a significant unreported conflict of interest”.

It said Super Retail had “revealed to certain of its staff that a relationship does now exist between Mr Heraghty and Ms Kelly” which only started from January 2024, after she left the company.

Harmers has not begun any legal action to date and a spokesman told The Australian on Thursday that there was no update on the situation.

Mr Heraghty, who spoke to the conference about the importance of the loyalty programs across the company’s brands, which include Supercheap Auto, Rebel sportswear and boating, camping and fishing supplies company BCF, gave his address after his company reported that caution among consumers was holding back retail sales.

Mr Heraghty said that the apparel market was “still challenged”. He said the company was seeing “solid visitations” to its stores but a “weakening” of the average basket of goods bought by shoppers.

He said there would need to be “some sort of change in consumer sentiment” before the expenditure per basket increased.

“Could it be tax cuts? Probably not,” he said. “Economic sentiment needs to change for households to become more confident.”

In a trading update, the company reported a fall in group sales for the first 16 weeks of 2024, with retail customers becoming more cautious on the back of cost of living pressures.

The group reported a 5 per cent fall in like-for-like sales at BCF during the period, with sales at its Rebel sports wear stores – its second largest source of revenue – down by 2 per cent.

The company’s like-for-like sales growth in the first 16 weeks of this year was down by 1 per cent. The company said customers were becoming increasingly concerned about getting value for money, with cost of living pressures seeing them cut back on the amount of goods per sale.

“Given current challenges around inflation and interest rates, customers are managing their spending carefully and becoming increasingly value-focused,” the company said.

Originally published as Super Retail CEO Anthony Heraghty silent on scandal