Kathmandu owner KMD Brands has appointed retail veteran Ian Morrice to its board, shortly after completing the latest phase in its fiscal reset.
Morrice joins as a non-executive director after 30 years’ experience in the industry, including his tenure as group CEO of Metcash and CEO of The Warehouse Group. His role at KMD takes effect in late August.
“KMD Brands owns a portfolio of highly regarded outdoor and lifestyle brands with significant potential,” he said. “Throughout my career I have worked with retail and consumer businesses to improve performance, strengthen customer relevance and deliver sustainable growth. I look forward to contributing that experience as the group delivers its next level strategy and develops opportunities to create long-term value for shareholders.”
His appointment follows the announcement of the ASX and NZX retailer completing its share consolidation. Last week, it converted every 25 KMD shares held by an individual shareholder into a single share to clean up a diluted capital structure.
This dilution came after KMD’s emergency capital raise – assisted by Goldman Sachs – in which the retailer sold around $55 million worth of shares at a 70 per cent discount, following another period in the red on its balance sheet.
The process ended with KMD possessing around 1.8 billion shares. It has reduced that count to around 72 million after the consolidation.
Philip Bowman, the group’s recently appointed chair after David Kirk’s resignation, said that Morrice will help move KMD forward.
“We are delighted to welcome Ian to the KMD Brands board,” he added. “Ian has an outstanding track record leading and transforming major retail and consumer businesses across New Zealand and Australia.”
“His deep operational and strategic expertise, together with his extensive governance experience and strong focus on shareholder value creation, will further strengthen the board as we continue to execute our next level strategy and evaluate other opportunities to accelerate value generation for shareholders.”
