1
00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,520
Speaker 1: The information provided in this program is of a general

2
00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:05,320
Speaker 1: nature and is not intended to be personalized financial advice.

3
00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:07,760
Speaker 1: We encourage you to seek appropriate advice from a qualified

4
00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:11,280
Speaker 1: professional to suit your individual circumstances. The Warehouse Group has

5
00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,200
Speaker 1: had reset on its strategy. Is it battles to survive

6
00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:18,919
Speaker 1: amid competition from offshore retailers. Why it's chairwoman is committed

7
00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:19,759
Speaker 1: to seeing it through.

8
00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:22,320
Speaker 2: We've done the mayor corpus in terms of what we've

9
00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:23,920
Speaker 2: got wrong, and there's a lot of it.

10
00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:26,279
Speaker 1: Did you ever consider your own position?

11
00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:27,240
Speaker 3: Absolutely?

12
00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:29,840
Speaker 2: And you know the easiest thing in the world to

13
00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:37,200
Speaker 2: do would be to bail.

14
00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:44,080
Speaker 1: Get to the warehouse, the warehouse wherever get The Warehouse

15
00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,080
Speaker 1: Group's own share price is going for a bargain these days.

16
00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:50,120
Speaker 1: After posting its first annual net loss in its forty

17
00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:53,239
Speaker 1: two year history, its stock is now priced around a

18
00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:55,680
Speaker 1: dollar from its peak of more than seven.

19
00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:57,760
Speaker 3: The retailer has a long.

20
00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:01,520
Speaker 1: History, started by Stephen Tindall, and in nineteen eighty two

21
00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:05,720
Speaker 1: it expanded its Redshet operation to include Warehouse stationery and

22
00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,840
Speaker 1: no leaming and now was more than two hundred stores nationwide.

23
00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:13,160
Speaker 1: Under the former CEO, Nick Grayston, had put in place,

24
00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:17,560
Speaker 1: an ecosystem strategy, adding on other businesses like Torpedo seven,

25
00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:21,080
Speaker 1: and launching an online offering the market dot com.

26
00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:23,040
Speaker 3: That's where it all went wrong.

27
00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:25,520
Speaker 1: In the past six months, it's done a u turn,

28
00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:29,039
Speaker 1: selling Torpedo seven for a dollar and closing down the

29
00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:33,319
Speaker 1: market indefinitely. Grayston left the company and Tyndall tried to

30
00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:37,400
Speaker 1: take that control, armed with the private equity firm's finances,

31
00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,120
Speaker 1: but their circa five hundred million dollar bid failed to

32
00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:42,720
Speaker 1: get shareholder support.

33
00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:44,760
Speaker 3: The board is now focused on getting.

34
00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:47,520
Speaker 1: The company back to its core, fighting to win back

35
00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:52,760
Speaker 1: market share that's shifted to competitors like kmart. Chairwoman John

36
00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:56,200
Speaker 1: Withers is leading that reset. She's been with the Warehouse

37
00:01:56,320 --> 00:02:00,040
Speaker 1: for eight years, but as she explains in this interview, this.

38
00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:02,160
Speaker 3: If it will likely be her last.

39
00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:04,800
Speaker 1: Well, Dan, John Withers, thank you so much for doing this.

40
00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:07,080
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. We've been meetings with us for

41
00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:07,920
Speaker 1: a while, haven't.

42
00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:10,520
Speaker 3: We we have. I mean, I'm so glad we're finally

43
00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:11,200
Speaker 3: doing it.

44
00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:12,720
Speaker 1: You and I both thank you so much for having

45
00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:14,760
Speaker 1: us here today. Look, we are going to talk about

46
00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:16,480
Speaker 1: where you and the board of the Warehouse Group of

47
00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:19,040
Speaker 1: taking this company next. But I think first we should

48
00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:22,119
Speaker 1: acknowledge what's occurred in sort of how we got here.

49
00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:25,320
Speaker 1: At what point did you realize that the Warehouse Group

50
00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:26,480
Speaker 1: had sort of lost its way?

51
00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:30,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, you know, for those of us who

52
00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:32,200
Speaker 2: are directors have been on the board for a while,

53
00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:35,600
Speaker 2: it's been an interesting journey. And you might remember that

54
00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,519
Speaker 2: three or four years ago the Warehouse got the Deloitte

55
00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:44,359
Speaker 2: Most Improved Company of the Year award. So it's been

56
00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,160
Speaker 2: an interesting transition. Over the last couple of years. As

57
00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,720
Speaker 2: we went through COVID, we've had some record performances in

58
00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,960
Speaker 2: terms of both revenue and bottom line. Twenty twenty one

59
00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,480
Speaker 2: post COVID obviously was you know, an aberration, but a

60
00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:01,920
Speaker 2: very good aberration. But what we've to understand, particularly in

61
00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:06,120
Speaker 2: the last six to twelve months, particularly, is that, you know,

62
00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:09,960
Speaker 2: the focus that we had on an ecosystem meant that

63
00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,280
Speaker 2: we weren't focusing on the bread and butter parts of

64
00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:14,359
Speaker 2: the business that were so critically.

65
00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:16,800
Speaker 1: Important, and that's where you came to the conclusion to

66
00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:18,560
Speaker 1: sell some of them off and make some changes.

67
00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:18,919
Speaker 3: Yeah.

68
00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:20,680
Speaker 2: I think, you know, when you look back on the

69
00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:26,400
Speaker 2: strategy for both Torpedo seven and the market. Torpedo seven

70
00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:29,040
Speaker 2: predates my time on the board in terms of the acquisition,

71
00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:31,919
Speaker 2: but that was a business that you could see had

72
00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:33,600
Speaker 2: a level of compatibility with.

73
00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:34,880
Speaker 3: What the warehouse was doing.

74
00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:38,200
Speaker 2: We got it to a situation where it was slightly

75
00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:42,200
Speaker 2: profitable and then slightly unprofitable, then fell off a cliff

76
00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:45,360
Speaker 2: in f y twenty three, So that was a twenty

77
00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:49,800
Speaker 2: odd million dollar drag on the bottom line the market.

78
00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:50,240
Speaker 3: You know.

79
00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,360
Speaker 2: We took that strategy at a time that we thought

80
00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:59,240
Speaker 2: having a broad appeal omni channel presence platform was existentially

81
00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,880
Speaker 2: important to it. We saw clear and present danger with

82
00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:06,640
Speaker 2: Amazon and Australia coming over here. We thought being able

83
00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:09,560
Speaker 2: to offer our customers the warehouses goods along with third

84
00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:11,080
Speaker 2: party goods was a.

85
00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:11,520
Speaker 3: Way to go.

86
00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:15,360
Speaker 2: We developed a plan in terms of where we anticipated

87
00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:17,920
Speaker 2: we would get to break even, and when we didn't

88
00:04:17,960 --> 00:04:20,559
Speaker 2: meet those milestones, you know, we were looking to break

89
00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:23,320
Speaker 2: even in f y twenty three. Again, we've had to

90
00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:26,039
Speaker 2: make a very very hard decision as far as that's concerned,

91
00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:29,599
Speaker 2: because again, an f y twenty three twenty odd million

92
00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:33,720
Speaker 2: dollar operating loss. So you know, if you had limitless

93
00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:39,440
Speaker 2: funds and limitless capacity, you might persevere but certainly with

94
00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:42,520
Speaker 2: where we were at, there was no alternative other than

95
00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:44,800
Speaker 2: to take those very hard decisions.

96
00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,000
Speaker 1: You told me that the Warehouse Group and the board

97
00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:50,760
Speaker 1: have gone through a bit of a reflection period. Talk

98
00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,800
Speaker 1: me through that. What have you and the board reflected

99
00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:55,919
Speaker 1: on and what's the conclusion you came to is to

100
00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:58,360
Speaker 1: ultimately why those those moves didn't work?

101
00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the end of dual decisions you make

102
00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:05,120
Speaker 2: quite pragmatically and philosophically given where you are at any

103
00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:08,680
Speaker 2: point in time. I think the wider reflection is what

104
00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:12,520
Speaker 2: could have we done, what should we have done earlier?

105
00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:13,840
Speaker 3: I think that's the.

106
00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:18,000
Speaker 2: Ascetism, And we're still individually and collectively reflecting on that,

107
00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:22,760
Speaker 2: and I think that's a very appropriate process because the

108
00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:29,040
Speaker 2: board is obviously accountable to shareholders for shareholder value.

109
00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:30,839
Speaker 3: We can't do everything.

110
00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:34,480
Speaker 2: We can't reach and beyond the CEO and get involved

111
00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:38,000
Speaker 2: in the execution and the operational issues, but we do

112
00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:40,240
Speaker 2: look at it and say what could or should we

113
00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,520
Speaker 2: have done differently if we had our time over again.

114
00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:47,960
Speaker 1: Obviously some leadership changes were made within that reflection period.

115
00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:50,120
Speaker 1: Did you ever consider your own position?

116
00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:51,080
Speaker 3: Absolutely?

117
00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:53,680
Speaker 2: And you know, the easiest thing in the world to

118
00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,400
Speaker 2: do would be to bail. I signaled when I stood

119
00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:00,680
Speaker 2: for re election two years ago this would be my turn.

120
00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:07,080
Speaker 2: I think either bailing or throwing directors overboard at this

121
00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:09,120
Speaker 2: point in time would not be in the best interests

122
00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:13,720
Speaker 2: of the company. Obviously, we've got JJ now dedicated to

123
00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:18,640
Speaker 2: the group CEO role and he's an executive director. We're

124
00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:23,160
Speaker 2: going through a replacement process. We've had some takeover activity

125
00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,560
Speaker 2: in the last few months, so I don't think that

126
00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:30,680
Speaker 2: now is the time for me to go. But I

127
00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:33,159
Speaker 2: think again it's something that we will reflect on and

128
00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:35,680
Speaker 2: say what could or should we have done differently?

129
00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,000
Speaker 1: And this economic environment, the warehouse really should have thrived,

130
00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:41,440
Speaker 1: right because in a high cost of living environment, this

131
00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:45,880
Speaker 1: is a cheaper retail offering. But rather New Zealand consumers

132
00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:48,839
Speaker 1: have gone and queued up, it came up, They've turned

133
00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:51,120
Speaker 1: to Timu online and drove.

134
00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:52,240
Speaker 3: So what are you going to do.

135
00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:56,479
Speaker 1: To win those customers back and have this retailer's products

136
00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:58,040
Speaker 1: resonate with them once more?

137
00:06:58,240 --> 00:06:59,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, well we're doing it.

138
00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,880
Speaker 2: I think, you know, making those two big moves in

139
00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,440
Speaker 2: terms of getting rid of effectively in f y twenty three,

140
00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:10,160
Speaker 2: forty four million dollars worth of operating profit. Drag has

141
00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,040
Speaker 2: put us in a much better position. But the focus

142
00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:16,920
Speaker 2: on the stores and the products and our customers is

143
00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:21,240
Speaker 2: our first and foremost. And you know, we had an

144
00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:26,520
Speaker 2: ecosystem strategy for valid reasons, it probably distracted us from

145
00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:28,320
Speaker 2: some of the core things that we should have.

146
00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:30,120
Speaker 3: Been doing better for our customers.

147
00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:34,440
Speaker 2: So getting that product offering right, making sure that we're

148
00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:38,200
Speaker 2: getting the stuff that we need in the right place

149
00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:41,480
Speaker 2: at the right time, making sure that we've got the

150
00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:45,240
Speaker 2: mix right, because obviously, you know, we've had massive growth

151
00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:49,160
Speaker 2: in terms of grocery, we admit publicly we've lost the

152
00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,120
Speaker 2: market share and both home we're in apparel, but we're

153
00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:54,840
Speaker 2: fighting now to get that back and even in the

154
00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:58,000
Speaker 2: last few weeks, with a renewed focus some of the

155
00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:01,800
Speaker 2: new product now landing, we are starting to see our

156
00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,520
Speaker 2: market share figures climb back up again. That's, you know,

157
00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:08,720
Speaker 2: only a very small point in time, and there's a

158
00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:11,240
Speaker 2: hell of a lot of wood to chop, but we

159
00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,120
Speaker 2: know by focusing on the right things that we will.

160
00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:18,960
Speaker 3: See a difference. And Kiwi's love the warehouse. We had the.

161
00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:24,360
Speaker 2: Mari language week ka Kaha offering in our stores a

162
00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,200
Speaker 2: couple of Saturdays ago, I went down to Poka Koe

163
00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:30,440
Speaker 2: to try and get an outfit and was told we'll

164
00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:32,920
Speaker 2: pick through what's left, and that was at nine fifteen

165
00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:36,800
Speaker 2: in the morning. So we sold out virtually everywhere. So

166
00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:40,400
Speaker 2: we know that Kiwi's want us to do better and

167
00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:42,120
Speaker 2: we're going to fulfill that for them.

168
00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:44,080
Speaker 1: So in your eyes, then it's most definitely not a

169
00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:46,720
Speaker 1: reputation issue with the brand at all. It's more just

170
00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:48,240
Speaker 1: a product mix that you've got to fix.

171
00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:51,400
Speaker 2: I think Kiwis want us to do well.

172
00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:53,240
Speaker 3: They love they love the brand.

173
00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:57,240
Speaker 2: You know, we've got Barbie painted over the front of

174
00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:00,320
Speaker 2: Albany at the moment. So when we do who get

175
00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:03,760
Speaker 2: things right, we get a fabulous response. We've just got

176
00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:06,360
Speaker 2: to do things right one hundred percent of the time.

177
00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:08,920
Speaker 1: You mentioned a few of those product categories, and I

178
00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:10,640
Speaker 1: want to talk to you about how you think about

179
00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:13,720
Speaker 1: margin mix in this environment, because, as you said, with grocery,

180
00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,000
Speaker 1: it's making up a larger portion of your sales and

181
00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:17,960
Speaker 1: a lot of noise has been made about the warehouses

182
00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:20,920
Speaker 1: sort of bigger move into grocery and perhaps the changes

183
00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,120
Speaker 1: that it could make in that industry, But you don't

184
00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:25,440
Speaker 1: seem to be really going harder on that. Is that

185
00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:29,720
Speaker 1: a value over volume sort of question that I think.

186
00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:31,120
Speaker 3: It's about getting the mixed right.

187
00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,760
Speaker 2: And you know, grocery is part of our offering, and

188
00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:37,840
Speaker 2: I think what we've done there in terms of some

189
00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:40,160
Speaker 2: of our home brands has been really good.

190
00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:41,760
Speaker 3: And again going.

191
00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:44,199
Speaker 2: Back to Kiwi's loving our offering, as you saw with

192
00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:47,480
Speaker 2: Sanitarium when we had the issues would supply six to

193
00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:52,160
Speaker 2: nine months ago, Kiwi's were there and droves trying to

194
00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:55,960
Speaker 2: support us cheaper butter Going back a little bit further,

195
00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:59,960
Speaker 2: but we've got to get the mix of our set

196
00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:03,680
Speaker 2: it's right. Otherwise you know, we can't do what we

197
00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:06,280
Speaker 2: need to do. And certainly Home.

198
00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:06,840
Speaker 3: We're an apparel.

199
00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:09,280
Speaker 2: I don't think our offering has been up to scratch,

200
00:10:09,679 --> 00:10:11,600
Speaker 2: and that's what the team are now working on.

201
00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:14,040
Speaker 1: So you view that category specifically as kind of the

202
00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,040
Speaker 1: biggest margin gain opportunity.

203
00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:18,520
Speaker 3: Homewhere is one, Apparels the other.

204
00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:21,959
Speaker 1: Definitely, how do you know from the board level when

205
00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,400
Speaker 1: you set a strategy like this one that you've communicated

206
00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,040
Speaker 1: to us, now, how do you know it's right? Do

207
00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:28,400
Speaker 1: you test it along the way?

208
00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:32,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly, get we get very granular reporting as to

209
00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:38,000
Speaker 2: what's happening, So I think we get very good insights

210
00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,040
Speaker 2: as to what's working and what's not at a store

211
00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:44,640
Speaker 2: and product level. It's much harder when you're doing something

212
00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:48,120
Speaker 2: that's a new initiative, eg. The market for example, much

213
00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:51,359
Speaker 2: harder to understand on a week by week basis exactly

214
00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:54,720
Speaker 2: what's happening. So this is the stuff that we should

215
00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:56,679
Speaker 2: absolutely be superb at.

216
00:10:57,559 --> 00:10:59,120
Speaker 1: Are you going to be a bit more ruthless on

217
00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,440
Speaker 1: checking that along the way? Given it the former strategy,

218
00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:04,800
Speaker 1: as you've admit it, kind of went on too long

219
00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:08,280
Speaker 1: and wasn't wasn't fixed early enough. Are they're going to

220
00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:09,880
Speaker 1: be sort of more checkpoints along the way.

221
00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:12,480
Speaker 2: Well, I think that the big difference now, Madison is

222
00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:15,240
Speaker 2: we've invested over the last five years one hundred and

223
00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:20,040
Speaker 2: thirty million dollars on replacing legacy systems, so those are

224
00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:23,800
Speaker 2: giving us much better capability. So our ERPFIS, which is

225
00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:26,600
Speaker 2: our finance and inventory system, has only.

226
00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:28,280
Speaker 3: Gone live in the last three months.

227
00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:32,120
Speaker 2: We've got Master Data Management, got much better visibility over

228
00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:35,240
Speaker 2: those sorts of things now than we had before, so

229
00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:36,920
Speaker 2: that will certainly help us.

230
00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:40,440
Speaker 1: I'm an optimist, but there are risks to every strategy.

231
00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:42,640
Speaker 1: What would you say are the biggest risks to this

232
00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:43,480
Speaker 1: on I'm going forward?

233
00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:46,760
Speaker 3: Biggest risk is the economic environment in New Zealand. We

234
00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:47,560
Speaker 3: are not alone.

235
00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:50,280
Speaker 2: We've done the mayor corpus in terms of what we've

236
00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:52,960
Speaker 2: got wrong, and there's a lot of it. But you've

237
00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:56,000
Speaker 2: got to say, you know, I saw kmd's result last week,

238
00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:57,920
Speaker 2: the first eight weeks of this financial year.

239
00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:00,480
Speaker 3: They're down twenty three percent on year.

240
00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:04,120
Speaker 2: So it's a very it has been a very tough

241
00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:11,079
Speaker 2: operating environment and we're all hoping that was one OCR

242
00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:14,480
Speaker 2: cut and hopefully, you know, maybe a fifty basis point

243
00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:18,640
Speaker 2: cut coming up. Kiwis will loosen the purse strings a

244
00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:22,040
Speaker 2: little bit, some of their discretionary spending will look better

245
00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:24,079
Speaker 2: than it has and certainly in the last twelve or

246
00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:26,840
Speaker 2: eighteen months, and will certainly benefit from that.

247
00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:30,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's tough, right because you can only control the controllables,

248
00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:32,480
Speaker 1: and at the moment of this economic environment, there is

249
00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:36,160
Speaker 1: so much still outside of company and boards control.

250
00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:37,920
Speaker 3: We've seen boards.

251
00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,320
Speaker 1: Be brutalized quite a bit. To name a few, Rhyman

252
00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:43,200
Speaker 1: Healthcare that you're building, the CEO and the chair of

253
00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:47,000
Speaker 1: that company both left. If that's the symptom, what do

254
00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:50,760
Speaker 1: you think the cause of that erosion and shareholder value

255
00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:54,240
Speaker 1: across the market broadly speaking has been, if not just

256
00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:55,760
Speaker 1: economic environment.

257
00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:58,880
Speaker 2: Well, I'm not going to comment on other companies and

258
00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:00,440
Speaker 2: what they've done rifle wrong.

259
00:13:00,559 --> 00:13:02,800
Speaker 3: I'll comment on the Warehouse Group.

260
00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:06,240
Speaker 2: And I think that's part of the challenge is disaggregating

261
00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:10,880
Speaker 2: what is economic, what's the economic environment doing, what are

262
00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:15,240
Speaker 2: your strategic missteps? And what is execution which is the

263
00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:19,400
Speaker 2: purview of management obviously, And it's actually understanding and trying

264
00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:22,280
Speaker 2: to calibrate what did we get wrong? And like I've said,

265
00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:24,680
Speaker 2: we fest up to a hell of a lot. But

266
00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:26,400
Speaker 2: you've got to have those that You've got to be

267
00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:29,320
Speaker 2: able to look at it and say, you know, what

268
00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:33,040
Speaker 2: else is out there that's caused us, what are the controllables,

269
00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:35,960
Speaker 2: what are the uncontrollables. I think the great thing in

270
00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:40,360
Speaker 2: New Zealand we've got a great investor community who really

271
00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,520
Speaker 2: do look at this stuff, you know, and and write

272
00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:45,760
Speaker 2: good interpretations of what they're seeing.

273
00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:49,160
Speaker 1: On that point, Actually, it's not even just winning over consumers,

274
00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:50,400
Speaker 1: is it. I Mean you sort of have to win

275
00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:53,760
Speaker 1: back investor trust and credibility among them too, you're confident

276
00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:54,240
Speaker 1: you can do that.

277
00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:58,079
Speaker 3: At the same time, our very best Again, I think

278
00:13:58,080 --> 00:13:59,760
Speaker 3: they're willingness. They've stuck with us.

279
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:04,000
Speaker 2: The ones who are still there on the register, they've

280
00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:08,640
Speaker 2: really been through the hard times and to say they're

281
00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:13,520
Speaker 2: patient as an understatement. But again it's a situation where

282
00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:15,880
Speaker 2: we're going to do the very best we can to

283
00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:18,000
Speaker 2: improve our shareholder returns.

284
00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,160
Speaker 3: Again, it's been a erratic. If you look at the last.

285
00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:23,040
Speaker 2: Few years leading up to COVID, you know, we had

286
00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:25,200
Speaker 2: some record years, but it's.

287
00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:26,480
Speaker 3: Been tough the last few years.

288
00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:30,600
Speaker 1: Among all of this too, you've also had takeover interest

289
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,040
Speaker 1: that from the board level. You've also had to deal

290
00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:36,320
Speaker 1: with how much of a distraction has that been while

291
00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:38,000
Speaker 1: you're trying to go through all of this at the

292
00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:38,640
Speaker 1: same time.

293
00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:42,680
Speaker 2: Well, as it turned out, it wasn't that much of

294
00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:47,640
Speaker 2: a distraction because we had a critical shareholder who was

295
00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:52,520
Speaker 2: not prepared to give the proposal support. And at that level,

296
00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:54,800
Speaker 2: you know, there's nothing you can do with the scheme

297
00:14:54,840 --> 00:15:00,200
Speaker 2: of arrangement, as you know, it's impossible. So you know,

298
00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:03,400
Speaker 2: I'm sort of become a little bit of a a

299
00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:05,560
Speaker 2: little bit familiar because I'm on the Origin board in

300
00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:09,080
Speaker 2: Australia and we went through the attempt to take over

301
00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:12,320
Speaker 2: last year Sky. We were public about the fact we

302
00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:17,120
Speaker 2: had an MBIO which didn't progress because it wasn't at

303
00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,760
Speaker 2: an acceptable level. So this one was probably a bit

304
00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:22,200
Speaker 2: more straightforward.

305
00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:22,240
Speaker 3: Than many are.

306
00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:23,760
Speaker 1: I mean, I know that that one was sort of

307
00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:25,760
Speaker 1: batted off quite quickly. But do you think that among

308
00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:27,680
Speaker 1: all of this there might be some more more office

309
00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:28,040
Speaker 1: throw on.

310
00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:29,240
Speaker 3: Your Well, no idea.

311
00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:30,920
Speaker 1: What would you say to them if anybody was thinking

312
00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:31,280
Speaker 1: about it?

313
00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:33,280
Speaker 2: Well, I think it comes down when you've got a

314
00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:36,800
Speaker 2: twenty percent shareholder, it's really you know, if there are

315
00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,920
Speaker 2: in any scenario, if there's one or two classes, it's

316
00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:45,320
Speaker 2: still going to be a block. So it really comes

317
00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:47,640
Speaker 2: down to what their perception of value is and what

318
00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:49,520
Speaker 2: their long term strategic interest is.

319
00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:52,600
Speaker 1: How long do you think this will take? John at

320
00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:55,000
Speaker 1: the Warehouse Group until you were seeing some of those

321
00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:56,960
Speaker 1: record high years or at least better years that aren't

322
00:15:57,040 --> 00:15:57,640
Speaker 1: loss making.

323
00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:02,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think in the caveat is the economic environment.

324
00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:05,760
Speaker 2: And I am a lot more optimistic than I was

325
00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:11,000
Speaker 2: twelve months ago, So for me personally, it would be nice.

326
00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:14,040
Speaker 2: You know, in thirteen months time, thirteen and a half

327
00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:18,320
Speaker 2: month's time. When I stand, aside from the warehouse board

328
00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:20,760
Speaker 2: that we're in a much much better position.

329
00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:23,840
Speaker 1: Perhaps we can do another interview. Just lock out, don't

330
00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:25,120
Speaker 1: come with us. Thank you so much for doing this.

331
00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:25,880
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it.

332
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:26,520
Speaker 3: Thanks Madison