The result delivered raises important questions around...

The result delivered raises important questions around leadership and CEO tenure the company needs to address. Perlstein has been in the role a long time and wanted to participate in the privatisation on the other side of the fence earlier this year. The Cotton On team has added little or no value to SFH. The Board lacks strong independent Director representation. The Chair does not posses extensive commercial credentials and is more of the same. The new additions of CFO and COO do not appear to have made any difference, being expensive as well. The company has now promised the same things for several years, most of which have not been delivered. The business continues to generate significant revenues, realizing ebitda margins that are below par, such that the underlying significant potential from the benefits of restructuring remain unrealized (3% ebitda margin). Operations are ebitda negative in the second half of every year, which is disgraceful. Disclosure is infrequent and practices are generally poor.

Unfortunately for those in charge, there needs to be a clean out. A new leader and Chair with a razor like focus on cost cutting, that will whack costs hard right across the business, starting with head office headcount reduction and elimination of duplication in divisional operating roles, along with good retail and digital credentials need to take it on.