After almost ten years at the helm, Mark McInnes has announced he will step down as the CEO of Premier Retail once he completes a 12-month notice period.

McInnes said he wishes to commit more time to his family than his current role will allow.

“On behalf of the board I want to express our sincere appreciation to Mark,” Premier chairman Solomon Lew said.

“Premier has delivered year on year record operational and financial performance under Marks leadership [and] thrived in very challenging times while many of our competitors have struggled or failed.”

The business said last week it is expecting its first-half earnings to jump as much as 85 per cent to $233 million due to a massive jump in online sales during the pandemic trading period.

The Australian business has seen like-for-like sales growth of 26.2 per cent, while the global figure rose 18 per cent. Global sales for the 24 week period have grown by 5 per cent to $716.9 million.

For the next year, however, it will be business as usual according to Lew. Premier is in the process of beginning a comprehensive search for McInnes’ replacement, and said it is lookin forward to working with him when he returns from his annual leave on February 1st.