Shares in vacuum cleaner retailer Godfreys (GFY) took a hit yesterday after the company issued a statement announcing the surprise resignation of CEO Kathy Cocovski just five months in the job.
She is in fact the second CEO of the company this year and will be temporarily replaced by a non-executive director, John Hardy. Mr Hardy was Godfreys’ chief executive from 1983 to 2008, has been appointed interim managing director with immediate effect. He could very well end up running the company, again.
The shares fell more than 8% at one stage, but ended down 3.8% at $1.01, well under the 52 week high of $3.14.
Godfreys chairman Rod Walker said in the statement that Ms Cocovski, who had been appointed as chief executive in January, had decided to resign for personal reasons. Ms Cocovski, who has previously held senior roles at Big W and Just Jeans, replaced Tom Krulis, who quit in January over Godfreys failure to catch the popularity of stick vacuums – an error that significantly hurt the retailer’s profits in 2015. Godfreys yesterday reaffirmed that guidance of a full year underlying profit between $8.5 million and $9.2 million, down from its original forecast of $12.9 million.
Mr Walker told the Financial Review that it was not appropriate for him to divulge his “private discussions" with Ms Cocovski.
But he told The Australian Financial Review on Wednesday morning, ”her departure had nothing to do with the performance of the company which had been trading okay in a difficult environment where Brexit, an eight-week election campaign and uncertainty over the election result was weighing on consumer confidence”.
"Kathy’s just made a decision to move on. That’s the appropriate word, it is disappointing," Mr Walker told the Financial Reivew.
Mr Walker said in in yesterday’s statement that Ms Cocovski had “made significant inroads in making the fundamental changes Godfreys needs to set a course for improved long-term performance”.
Godfreys shares were about 80 cents when Ms Cocovski took the job in January.
