Geelong Advertiser

Stage set for fiery Myer AGM

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THE embattled Myer board has made a fresh pitch to shareholde­rs ahead of a likely explosive annual general meeting on Friday, declaring the completion of its refinancin­g a “vote of confidence”.

Myer announced yesterday it had extended the maturity on the company’s bank facility refinancin­g until 2021, a move that chief financial officer Nigel Chadwick said would provide a more stable platform to grow the company after a run of poor results.

But Solomon Lew’s Premier Investment­s, Myer’s biggest investor and perhaps the board’s loudest critic, again lashed out, accusing the board of handing the company to the banks.

“(Chairman) Garry Hounsell has today handed the Myer keys to the big banks, who are now officially in complete control of the business,” Premier said yesterday in a statement.

“The failed Myer board’s capitulati­on to the big banks means there is no ability to invest in the business, and no ability to pay a dividend to shareholde­rs for the foreseeabl­e future.”

A war of words has been ongoing between Myer and Mr Lew, who owns 10.77 per cent of the company, with tensions particular­ly high after shares in the troubled retailer went into free fall last week following its forced admission of another fall in sales.

Myer had been forced into a trading halt by the ASX following media suggestion­s it may have breached disclosure rules by failing to detail the extent of a sales decline.

The company subsequent­ly admitted first-quarter sales fell 4.8 per cent, and 4.3 per cent on a comparable store basis.

Mr Lew repeated calls for the board to be voted out at Friday’s annual general meeting, but Mr Hounsell hit back at what he called a “grossly misleading and inflammato­ry” campaign by Mr Lew and Premier Investment­s “designed to benefit them and them only.”

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