‘Dearly missed’: Michael Hill boss Daniel Bracken | Australian Markets
Jewelry retailer Michael Hill has introduced the sudden death of its chief government, Daniel Bracken.
In a transient assertion issued to the Australian Securities Trade on Wednesday, the company mentioned Mr Bracken died as a outcome of an adversarial response to medical therapy for an underlying situation.
“The board, executive and all of the Michael Hill team express their deepest and sincerest condolences to his family and friends,” it mentioned.
“On behalf of the board, we thank Daniel for his outstanding leadership and dedication to the Michael Hill Group and our people over the past seven years. He will be dearly missed.
“Daniel was a passionate retailer, an innovative and strategic thinker and an inspiring leader, who transformed the Michael Hill group into the company that it is today.”
The shock news got here simply days after the retailer reported a small drop in income for the primary half of the yr — down from $362.7 million within the prior corresponding half to $360.2m for the six months to the top of December.
Web revenue was up marginally to $16.9m as gross margins rose to 61.3 per cent, underpinned by product and model initiatives which had been offsetting greater enter prices and “aggressive retail trading conditions”.
Comparable earnings earlier than curiosity and tax of $24.1m was down from $31.3m a yr earlier.
Mr Bracken famous that end in his assertion to the ASX on Friday.
“Whilst we are disappointed with our overall EBIT result for the half, the business was comping record prior year sales in both October and November, with eight fewer stores,” he mentioned.
“Our gross margin is improving, underpinned by product and brand initiatives, despite the headwinds of elevated gold prices. Furthermore, the business is committed to delivering cost reductions through the second half.”
Mr Bracken joined Michael Hill in late 2018 after more than three years as chief merchandise and buyer officer and deputy CEO at Myer and three years as chief government of Attire Group, which owns the Sportscraft, Saba and Jag labels.
Earlier than that, he spent 13 years at luxurious British fashion label Burberry.
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