By Jessica Yun
Veteran retailer Gerry Harvey has shrugged off his company’s court battles as posing no risk to its brand or reputation as the furniture and white goods retailer fights to overturn a Federal Court ruling and two class actions.
Speaking after Harvey Norman’s annual general meeting in Sydney, which suffered from technical difficulties preventing investors, analysts and media from dialling in remotely, Harvey pointed to the nation’s big supermarkets and airlines as some large companies recently subject to public backlash.
“Everyone, if you’re a big business, takes a hiding,” Harvey told this masthead.
Harvey Norman executive chairman Gerry Harvey during the Harvey Norman AGM held at Sydney Olympic Park on Wednesday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
“So the reality is it has no influence whatsoever. People didn’t stop shopping at Qantas, they didn’t stop shopping at Woolworths. With a bit of luck, they won’t stop shopping at Harvey Norman,” he said. “We all get hammered.”
In October, the Federal Court found that Harvey Norman and lending business Latitude Financial Services had misled and deceived consumers over ads for deposit-free and interest-free payments that actually hid fees and costs of more than $500 and failed to disclose that benefits could only be accessed if the customer signed up to a Latitude GO Mastercard. Harvey Norman has signalled its intention to appeal against the ruling.
The month before, on September 19, Echo Law lodged a class action against the ASX-listed retailer on behalf of customers who were sold “worthless” extended product warranties. The next day, law firm Maurice Blackburn started a similar class action alleging Harvey Norman had sold extended warranties that had no real value.
Harvey declined to comment on the Federal Court ruling or his company’s basis for appeal, saying his lawyers would “come and do nasty things to me” if he commented on the matter before the courts.
“I have very strong opinions on all of that, and I’m not allowed to say what I think. I hate the idea of being gagged,” Harvey said. “If I had my way, I’d be out there screaming at the top of my lungs about the injustices, and yet I can’t do it. I’ve got to play along with it.
“The whole legal system is completely f---ed in Australia.”
Harvey, 85, co-founded the retail chain in 1982 with Ian Norman, and has held the position of executive chairman since 1987. Harvey’s son, Michael, sits on the board, but does not have ambitions to take on any more senior roles in the business.
Husband and wife duo: Harvey Norman chief executive Katie Page and executive chairman Gerry Harvey.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
His wife, Katie Page, is the company’s chief executive. Harvey said her energy levels were “quite extraordinary” and she “doesn’t intend to resign any time soon”.
“If [I] drop dead tomorrow, Kate becomes the chairman, I guess, and the CEO,” Harvey said.
Does he intend to keep the two roles separate? “That’ll be her decision,” he said. “I won’t be here.”
All resolutions were carried at the annual general meeting on Thursday, including the company’s remuneration report, which 81.8 per cent of shareholders had voted against last year. The $6.2 billion company’s shares were up by 2.8 per cent in late afternoon trading.
Harvey Norman’s aggregate sales revenue rose by 1.7 per cent between the beginning of July and the end of October, and comparable sales lifted 1.4 per cent. Apart from Australia, the retailer operates stores in New Zealand, Slovenia, Croatia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Malaysia.
Despite cost-of-living pressures, Harvey said sales were “not that bad”. But among higher costs of doing business, including wages, electricity was the “biggest problem”.
Christmas and Boxing Day sales are expected to be quite good, if last year’s numbers are anything to go by, and robo-vacuums, AI-powered computers and security cameras were selling in “huge numbers”.
“They’re products that were not hot a couple of years ago, [but] that are very, very hot at the moment,” Harvey said.
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