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Pet and vet care company Greencross has appointed former Qantas executive Simon Hickey chief executive and managing director. Brent Winstone
by Sue Mitchell
Incoming Greencross chief executive Simon Hickey has flagged a stronger focus on customer loyalty and data to grow the pet and vet care retailer's sales and defend its market share from competitors such as Amazon.
Mr Hickey, who ran Qantas Frequent Flyers for five years and Qantas International for six years, will take the helm from Martin Nicholas on March 5.
Mr Nicholas, who took the helm in August 2015 after the abrupt departure of Jeff David, will step down next month but has agreed to support Mr Hickey for five months to ensure a smooth transition.
Greencross chairman Stuart James gave no explanation for the sudden leadership change – talks with Mr Hickey started just before Christmas – but said the appointment was a key step in the growth of the company, which owns 247 stores under the Petbarn, City Farmers and Animates banners, more than 190 vet clinics and online stores.
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Outgoing Greencross CEO Martin Nicholas. Peter Braig
"With this infrastructure in place, the time is now right for the company to rejuvenate the customer experience and deliver the full benefits of our omni-channel integrated pet care model for our customers and shareholders," Mr James said. Related Quotes
May14GMT+1000 (AUS Eastern Standard Time)Feb13Feb18468103.84610.159
Last updated: Tue Feb 06 2018 - 10:11:52 AM View full quote Company Profile
Greencross is Australasia's leading pet care specialist. Greencross provides veterinary services and supplies pet related products and services (including grooming, dog washing and obedience training) through a network of over 330 veterinary clinics and r http://www.greencrosslimited.com.au
Specialty Retail (255040)
ASIC 119778862
Mr Hickey said his first priority was to understand the Greencross business and ruled out changes in the short term to Greencross' store rollout program.
"I think this is a great company and it's all about being customer centric and ... using all the information we've got in order to deliver as best as we can for the customer," he said.
Mr Hickey said while he had no experience in the pet care industry, during his time at Qantas he established a pioneering online retail operation, which now accounts for a large part of the Qantas Loyalty business.
"When I took over the international freight businesses we ensured we had a focus on the bottom line but a focus on delivering to customers," he said.
Greencross has almost doubled sales and EBITDA during the past four years, but growth has slowed in recent years and the company is expected to come under pressure from Amazon.
In a trading update, Greencross said it expected first-half sales to rise 9 per cent to about $430 million, underpinned by same-store sales growth of 4.5 per cent, in line with growth in 2017. First-half underlying net profit is expected to reach at least $24 million and the company said it was comfortable with consensus forecasts for the full year (which are about $45 million). "Surprising but understandable"
Deutsche Bank analyst Wassim Kisirwani said the change in leadership was "surprising" but understandable, given the longer-term strategic challenges Greencross was facing, particularly from online retailers.
"Martin Nicholas steered Greencross through a difficult period, with the company executing well on a number of significant initiatives around its supply chain management, in-store clinics, private label, services, store rollout and loyalty programs," he said.
"Greencross, however, faces an increasingly competitive environment with some signs of saturation in the pet retail segment, with online competition in particular posing a significant risk to the company's model."
Greencross shares were little changed at $6.35 on Monday.
