Solomon Lew candidate Terrence McCartney elected to the Myer board after a long campaign

After stalking the Myer board since 2017, billionaire Solomon Lew has got his candidate, Terrence McCartney on the retailer’s board.

After stalking the Myer board for five years, billionaire retailer Solomon Lew has had a major victory with the election of his candidate, Terrence McCartney, to the board of the department store owner.

Mr Lew sealed the victory by helping engineer a strike against Myer’s remuneration report at its annual meeting on Thursday, with a 45 per cent vote against the plan.

No longer outside the tent, Mr Lew will have his first representative on the Myer board for his Premier Investments – the company’s largest shareholder with a 22.87 per cent stake – although the election win could open up allegations of conflicts of interest that Mr McCartney, Mr Lew and the board will need to navigate.

Speaking after the Myer annual general meeting held in Sydney on Thursday, Mr McCartney, a former boss of Myer Grace Bros, said he first wanted to get a better understanding of the inner workings of the retailer before he started “lobbing in” his business plans.

“My first port of call would be to actually get to know the business,” said Mr McCartney.

“I haven’t been in that business as you know, for many years, and as I was saying at the meeting, the last thing I want to do is lob in a business plan versus listen to CEO John King – who has improved the business – listen to what John and the team have done in there. And then I’ll have my point of view.”

Premier Investments chairman Solomon Lew. Picture: Aaron Francis

Mr McCartney received 61 per cent votes backing his election to the Myer board. That equated to 306.7 million votes for Mr McCartney with Mr Lew’s Premier Investments holding 187.8 million shares.

“I thank shareholders for supporting my nomination to the Myer board and I look forward to serving all shareholders in my capacity as a Myer director,” Mr McCartney said on his election.

“I believe my long history as a retailer and, in particular, my department store experience, will be of benefit to the business and its stakeholders. I look forward to contributing alongside my fellow Myer directors to deliver value for all shareholders.”

Apart from his lengthy retail experience Mr McCartney is also a long-serving director of Mr Lew’s Premier Investments.

During the meeting, Investors Mutual fund manager Simon Conn – a shareholder – asked Myer chair JoAnne Stephenson about ensuring commercially sensitive information was not leaked to other organisations, meaning Premier Investments.

Myer chief executive John King. Picture Stefan Postles

Ms Stephenson said she believed that actual and perceived conflicts of interest around Mr McCartney’s entry into the board could be managed and these were issues Myer and Mr McCartney could sit down and talk about.

“Terry and Premier have acknowledged that there are issues we can sit down and constructively deal with, we have good conflict of interest policies … already in place in the organisation.”

She said there could be issues around the sleepwear category that would need to be addressed. One of Premier Investment’s biggest earners is sleepwear brand Peter Alexander.

Mr McCartney told the meeting that, if he were elected, he would be committed to working in a “collaborative and cohesive manner” and would take his fiduciary responsibilities seriously including “managing conflicts of interest, perceived or otherwise”.

His appointment had been opposed by some proxy advisory groups including CGI Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services. While CGI Glass Lewis told clients that Mr McCartney had a strong track record overseeing retail operations, Premier Investments had not offered any argument to suggest the incumbent board lacked sufficient retailing experience.

Ahead of the meeting, Myer revealed it had written to Premier Investments asking that Mr Lew stop buying shares in the retailer unless he makes a takeover offer. Premier Investments described the request as “inappropriate”.

Shareholders also voted strongly in favour of the re-election of Ms Stephenson and Jacquie Naylor. After the meeting, Ms Stephenson declined to answer questions from the media.

At the meeting, Mr King said the retailer had a strong start to the financial year with a record sales results for the first 13 weeks of 52.8 per cent growth. “We have a healthy inventory position with all Christmas stock in place, with lower levels of aged stock meaning customers will continue to shop newness,” he said.

In September, Myer posted its strongest second-half profit in almost 10 years and resumed paying a final dividend. Myer posted a net profit after tax of $60.2m for the 52 weeks to July 30, against $51.7m in the previous year.

Myer shares rose 4 per cent to close up 2.5c at 62c.