Super Retail CEO dodges scandal questions, points to sales record

Super Retail boss Anthony Heraghty has refused to comment on the harassment and bullying scandal gripping the retailer, and insists his team were ‘on the tools’.

Super Retail, owner of Supercheap Auto, has hit record sales in 2024. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

Super Retail Group chief executive Anthony Heraghty has pointed to the company’s record sales result for 2024 and strong momentum in the new financial year as evidence his management team are “on the tools” and not distracted by the company’s bullying and harassment scandal.

Mr Heraghty – who since April has faced a string of sensational allegations from two former high-ranked female executives, including that he had a secret affair with the then head of human resources, Jane Kelly – said the retailer had “come out of the gates” in the first seven weeks of 2025.

“You can very reasonably conclude that the management team are on the tools, and optimising the business to best shareholder benefit, so coming out of the gates in the first seven weeks with underlying like-for-like growth across all brands is a very, very credible result,” Mr Heraghty told The Australian.

Mr Heraghty declined to comment on a long list of allegations that first arose in April. They include that he engaged in an affair with Ms Kelly when she was the head of HR, that the travel budget was misused to further that affair, and he personally intervened to get Ms Kelly a better redundancy deal than she was entitled to when she left the company in December. He also declined to comment about allegations senior Super Retail executives made many complaints about Ms Kelly’s alleged bullying and harassment of other executives but were ignored, and that she was protected because of her alleged relationship with the CEO.

The scandal now swirling around Super Retail, its CEO and outgoing chairman Sally Pitkin overshadowed what was a strong full-year result headlined by record sales, a special dividend handed to shareholders and a share price that rallied 7 per cent.

Despite cost of living pressures consumers continued spending at the retailer’s brands – Rebel, Supercheap Auto, Macpac and BCF – putting the retailer in a strong position for 2025 if the spending power of the consumer eventually improves once the economy recovers and interest rates begin to drift lower.

The release of Super Retail’s full-year results was the first opportunity since the scandal broke for Mr Heraghty to face direct questions on the issue.

But when asked about the allegations by The Australian, Mr Heraghty said that because the issue was the subject of a court case he couldn’t comment.

“I can’t comment on that – that’s subject to a court proceeding,” he said.

“It’s in (Ms Farrell’s) statement of claim and (it) would be prejudicial to our position to start to answer those allegations in the public square.”

As Mr Heraghty was highlighting the retailer’s most recent financial performance to analysts in a briefing – including record sales of $3.9bn, up 2 per cent, and net profit down 8.7 per cent to $240.1m – across town in Sydney Justice Michael Lee in the Federal Court began delivering his decision on the lifting of suppression of key documents relating to the legal battle that has gripped Super Retail Group.

Lawyers for Super Retail are seeking to keep parts of a statement of claim from sacked Super Retail chief legal officer Rebecca Farrell redacted and hidden from view for non-parties.

These redacted segments of Ms Farrell’s court documents reveal details of an alleged settlement reached between Super Retail and Ms Farrell and a second whistleblower, former Super Retail co-company secretary Amelia ­Berczelly.

Lawyers acting for media outlets including News Corporation last week applied for redacted court documents lodged by the whistleblowers to be unredacted to reveal the details of the alleged settlement reached between Super Retail and the whistleblowers earlier this year.

Justice Lee yesterday agreed to lift the suppression of the redacted parts of Ms Farrell’s statement of claim, citing the importance of ‘‘open justice’’, but the documents will remain confidential until October 1, with Super Retail considering an appeal.

Meanwhile, Super Retail said group sales from its Rebel, Supercheap Auto, BCF and Macpac stores hit $3.9bn in 2024, while its loyalty club lifted membership by 12 per cent to 11.5 million.

“Super Retail Group delivered a solid financial performance in fiscal 2024 as record sales and higher gross margin helped mitigate the impact of inflation on our cost base,” said Mr Heraghty.

“In a macroeconomic environment where cost of living pressures are dampening consumer spending, the delivery of top-line growth is a testimony to the strength of our four core brands and the resilience of the categories in which we operate.”

At its Supercheap Auto stores like-for-like sales growth of 2 per cent reflected growth in transaction volumes and higher average transaction value.

Auto maintenance (including lubricants, car detailing and power) was the strongest performing category, reflecting and increase in do-it-yourself ­activities.

For Rebel, performance sports was the best performing category, benefiting from strength in football and licensed apparel.

The retailer rewarded its shareholders by declaring a fully franked final ordinary dividend of 37c per share – down from 69c per share last year – and a fully franked special dividend of 50c per share, payable on October 17.

Across its business Supercheap Auto sales rose 2 per cent, while Rebel sales fell 2 per cent.

BCF sales were also down, falling 1 per cent, while sales at Macpac were flat.

Group online sales increased by 9 per cent to $485m. Online sales as a percentage of total sales increased from 12 per cent to 13 per cent.

Super Retail said group gross margin increased by 10 basis points to 46.3 per cent despite increased promotional activity from competitors across the ­categories in which the group ­operated.

In a trading update, the company said it had a strong start to fiscal 2025 despite the cost of living crisis, with same store sales up 3 per cent, led by a 9 per cent lift in comparable sales at Macpac for the first seven weeks and a 4 per cent sales uplift at Supercheap Auto. Rebel sales were up 1 per cent.

Shares in Super Retail ended up 6.24 per cent at $17.70.