‘Deficient disclosure’ sparks Lew legal threat to Myer

SOLOMON Lew’s Premier Investments says it is considering possible legal action against Myer over the department store chain’s alleged lack of disclosure.

Myer’s largest shareholder said in a statement yesterday it is concerned that “deficient disclosure by the board of Myer” means the market is “trading on an uninformed basis”. “Premier Investments believes it was misled into outlaying more than $100 million to buy 10.8 per cent of Myer, and is being denied its request for board seats by directors who collectively own less than 0.1 per cent of the company and whose tenure has been marked by falling sales, profit, and market value,” Premier said.

“The situation is untenable.

“Premier is, therefore, carefully considering its legal and other options in order to bring about urgently needed change to ensure that Myer shares are trading in an informed market.”

When contacted, Premier declined to provide detail about what its legal options might be.

Premier said shareholders did not have enough information to assess the performance of the so-called “New Myer” turnaround strategy, and reiterated its call for Myer to release its first-quarter sales and profit figures tomorrow at its strategy day.

Myer has previously said it has rejected Premier’s request for members on its board because of a conflict of interest due to Premier’s status as one of its biggest suppliers.

Premier also criticised Myer’s directors as having not enough skin in the game.

It said the current directors had been paid a total of $6.24 million in the time they have been on the board — but owned only $452,000 worth of Myer shares.