Woolworth Holdings’ sale of the David Jones department-store business has cleared the way for the brands of its Country Road Group division to return to the shelves of Myer.
The Witchery, Politix and Mimco brands will launch at Myer from next month while Country Road – including Country Road Kids, Country Road Home and Trenery – will be stocked from July. The full rollout is not expected to be complete until sometime next year although not all brands will be sold through all 57 stores.
“The partnership with Myer, through their store network and online platform, provides an opportunity for our brands to showcase great products to our core customer,” said Country Road Group CEO, Raju Vuppalapati.
While the two companies’ joint announcement did not refer to David Jones, it is hard not to draw a conclusion around the timing of the move given the competitive nature of the department store sector and that Country Road’s South African multinational parent has now sold David Jones.
Woolworth Holdings bought a controlling interest in Country Road in 1998 and acquired Witchery Group in 2007 to create Country Road Group. After taking full control of the business in September 2014, Woolworth bought Politix two years later.
Myer CEO, John King said the return marked “a clear demonstration of Myer’s attractive retail proposition and reputation of fostering strong, strategic and tailored commercial outcomes that benefit our partners and customers”.
First-half sales surge
Subsequent to the Myer announcement, Woolworth Holding released a trading update for the half-year to December 25.
Country Road Group sales grew by 26.6 per cent on a comp-store basis, underpinned by strong performances from the Country Road, Politix and Witchery brands.
The company said sales by David Jones and its concessions rose by 31.8 per cent overall and by 27.6 per cent on a comp-stores basis. Flagship and CBD stores performed particularly well and online sales accounted for 17.2 per cent of turnover, compared with 28.1 per cent for the prior period.
“Our businesses in Australia and New Zealand continued their positive momentum, notwithstanding the increased inflationary pressures faced by consumers during the period,” the company said in a filing.
