New hires a good look for Woolies
Top beauty retailer Kneale joins board as it sets about rebuilding
The arrival at ailing Woolworths of David Kneale, the former CEO of health-care and beauty chain Clicks, may be just what the retailer needs. This week, Woolworths announced the appointment of Kneale and Thembisa Skweyiya as nonexecutive directors. The move comes as the retailer begins to overhaul its leadership team after a slew of key resignations last month. In February alone, three executives parted ways with Woolworths. They included David Jones CEO David Thomas, the third CEO to have left since Woolworths acquired the Australian chain in 2014. Kneale took up the reins at Clicks in 2006, having been brought in from the UK's Boots pharmacy chain to enliven the South African health-care and beauty group. Pinning its hopes on the man who managed to grow the Clicks chain to a R50bn-market-capitalisation business from R5bn in just over a decade seems like a clever move by Woolworths. Damon Buss, an equity analyst at Electus Fund Managers, described Kneale as an "astute retailer" who...
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