Myer follows private equity line and culls senior staff

Last week the retailer made 14 executives redundant, including two of its most senior managers, amid belt tightening to combat the downturn in spending.

They include store interface and buying finance director, Alison Smith, who joined the company two years ago from Nike, and men's wear business manager Simon Winter.

Both left last week.

Mr Winter, who began his retail career at Myer, rejoined the company in June last year after working in senior roles at the underwear and pyjama maker Mitch Dowd and shoemaker Pacific Dunlop. He will be replaced by fashion buyer Karen Brewster.

Judy Coomber, who was in charge of "soft" goods, such as women's wear, children's wear, underwear, teenage-wear, cosmetics, accessories and shoes, has been forced to relinquish her oversight of men' wear and cosmetics to concentrate on improving the other areas.

Shoes sales have been going backwards for two years. Ms Coomber and other senior managers report to Penny Winn, who is in charge of reorganising roles.

Last month the company said comparable store sales were almost flat, rising by only 2 per cent in the 2007-08 financial year, while total sales rose by only 1 per cent to $3.32 billion.

Myer's chief executive, Bernie Brookes, refused to forecast sales for this year because trading was so uncertain. "The last few months haven't got any better, but it hasn't got worse," he said at the time.

Private equity investors have been cutting swathes through the executive ranks of their purchases. PBL Media, owned by CVC Asia Pacific, replaced its chairman, Adrian MacKenzie, a week after the company sacked Scott Lorson, head of ACP Magazines. It also culled most staff in ACP's events and publicity departments.

A Myer spokesman said the moves were part of a reshuffle. "There has been a restructure in part of the business and as a result there has been a small number of redundancies. However, there has only been redundancies where we have been unable to find an nate position for that person within the business."

Many Myer staff, including Mr Brookes and Ms Winn, are former Woolworths executives.

Woolworths also announced a staff reshuffle yesterday. Greg Foran will take over the running of supermarkets, bottle shops and petrol stations from veteran Naum Onikul, who is retiring.