Iain Nairn to head David Jones as Paul Zahra quits

WOOLWORTHS Holdings boss Ian Moir says his company bought David Jones just in time to capture the benefits of a looming recovery.

WOOLWORTHS Holdings chief executive Ian Moir says the company bought David Jones just in time to capture the benefits of a looming recovery while still paying a bargain price.

The comments come as David Jones chief executive Paul Zahra resigns, saying he will stay on for three months to ensure a smooth handover.

In an interview with The Australian, Mr Moir said that with DJs sales growth finally picking up after years of decline, the share price was likely to follow, resulting in Woolworths Holdings having to pay even more than the $2.15 billion it shelled out for the department store.

As revealed exclusively in The Australian this month, DJs recorded sales growth of 6.3 per cent for the fourth quarter of the financial year, or 3.1 per cent when the impact of store openings and closures was stripped out — its strongest quarter for comparable-store sales since the second quarter of the 2009-10 financial year.

“We’ve got our timing right on this acquisition _ we have always been of the view that the environment will improve, particularly for upper-end retailers who are doing a good job, so it was no surprise, it was just confirmation that we’d got a good business at a good time and a good price,” Mr Moir said.

“If you miss the point and the business you were acquiring starts performing better, its share price starts rising and the expectations of what you have to pay to acquire that business only get higher, so I think we got a good business at the right time.”

Woolworths Holdings today announced Mr Zahra would hand the reins to Ian Nairn, currently chief executive at Country Road, which is also wholly-owned by Woolworths Holdings.

Mr Moir had said throughout the takeover process that Woolworths Holdings intended to keep Mr Zahra in the top job.

“Paul and I have had a couple of meetings and we talked about giving him a go in the role and how that would work, but as time went on Paul decided that now was the right time to go,” Mr Moir said.

“He’s done a good job of the in the last period, the business is trading well, it’s clear on its strategies, but with the change of ownership he’s decided it’s time to try something else.”

Matt Keogh, former managing director of Witchery, another brand in the South African group’s stable, has been appointed chief executive of Country Road, effective immediately.

Country Road chief operating officer David Thomas will also move to David Jones, taking up the new role of chief operating officer.

With Business Spectator