Premier Investments’ online sales have jumped 70 per cent during the first 18 weeks of FY21 after record trade during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period, chairman Solomon Lew said at the business’ AGM on Friday.

However, shareholders delivered the company a first strike against its remuneration report – a decision Lew took issue with.

“It’s complete unclear to me how it can be justified in relation to the outstanding performance that our board, CEO and management team have delivered,” Lew said.

“Where management teams deliver outstanding results, they should be rewarded for doing so.”

Lew said he believed the strike had been driven by some proxy advisors, and that if he had used his shares to vote on the matter the strike wouldn’t have happened.

He also called 2020 a year of two distinct halves, with the first half marred by uncertainty in the UK from Brexit, protests in Hong Kong, and floods and bushfires in Australia, and the second half seeing many international markets entering recessions off the back of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, due to a number of difficult decisions, as well as a period where the business refused to pay any rent, Premier was able to weather the storm.

And with the opening of Premier’s stores in England, and the reopening of borders in Australia, Lew is very optimistic for the upcoming holiday period.

“We have strong collections of products for each of our brands, we have well managed inventory, and we have already seen a very positive consumer response to this season’s products, with a willingness to spend as evidenced by our recent record Black Friday and Cyber Monday trading result,” Lew said.

“This crucial season is not yet over, however we believe we are significantly better placed than our key competitors.”