Ian Morrice, the former CEO of The Warehouse Group and Australian grocery wholesaler Metcash, has joined KMD Brands as a non-executive director.
Effective immediately, Morrice joins the owner of Kathmandu, Rip Curl, and Oboz shortly after it completed the latest phase in its fiscal reset.
With 30 years’ experience in the retail industry across New Zealand, Australia, the US, and the UK, Morrice joins just one week after the NZX-listed retailer completed a share consolidation that reduced its share count from 1.8 billion to around 72 million. This happened last week when 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.
“KMD Brands owns a portfolio of highly regarded outdoor and lifestyle brands with significant potential,” Morrice 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.”
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.”
