Edcon announces executive shake-up

Bernie Brookes.

Picture: BDlive

The company said Urin Ferndale had been appointed CE of the Jet division. Ferndale replaces Andy Williams, who the company said would return to England for family reasons.

Edcon said it had appointed Andy Jury as CE of the speciality stores division and he would replace Garth Napier, "who had indicated that he would move once the group advanced the change in its debt position, and who has decided to pursue other interests outside the group".

Williams and Napier follow Toon Clerckx — formerly chief financial officer of the group who left late in June — as members of the executive management who had resigned.

As part of efforts to improve its financial performance and maximise its liquidity position, Edcon is undertaking a comprehensive reform of its entire capital structure. The apparel group expects the streamlining of its business to culminate in a significant reduction of its debt.

Boston-based Bain Capital bought Edcon for R25bn in a leveraged buyout in 2007. The global economic crisis, which began soon after the deal was finalised, hit the group hard.

Other changes to management include the appointment of Andrew Levermore as CE of Edgars.

Edcon CEO Bernie Brookes said he was confident the new team could steer the group into its next phase of growth and allow it "to focus on our core business of retail".

"This is the executive management team that has largely been driving the significant change that is under way at Edcon. In addition to advancing the process of correcting the capital structure, we have already eliminated numerous complexities in the business and total costs are being well managed.

"We have intensified our focus on customer needs and our realigned plan is designed to drive meaningful customer change in the near term and create long-term value. I want to thank Andy Williams and Garth Napier for their significant contributions, guidance and input over the last years. It has been a pleasure working with both of them," said Brookes.

Edcon is SA’s largest nonfood retailer. The group trades under three divisions: Edgars, which serves middle- and upper-income markets; Jet and Jet Mart, which serve middle- to lower-income markets; and the speciality division, made up of brands such as Red Square, Boardmans and Legit. It trades in SA, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia, Ghana and Zimbabwe.