There’s new life at Woolworths after David Jones
The retail group has a new lease of life after its ruinously expensive Australian experiment — but there’s no less pressure now to improve its clothing division and keep ahead in the food wars
12 January 2023 - 05:00
The late December sale of David Jones must be a clear sign that the notion of a southern hemisphere retail champion, beloved of former Woolworths CEO Ian Moir who bought the ill-fated department store, is well and truly over.
Announcing the sale three weeks ago, Roy Bagattini — who’s spent his entire tenure as CEO since 2020 fielding calls on what to do with David Jones — said: “It’s increasingly difficult to create a so-called regional player with a level of impact and scale that can really materially shift your performance.”..
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