Red sheds to shop for efficiencies

The Warehouse Group plans to streamline the management of its four main retail chains in a bid to cut costs.

Spokeswoman Tanya Henderson said yesterday that it was too early to say whether the changes might lead to store closures at the company, which employs more than 12,000 staff.

The Nzx-listed firm plans to merge the management team that supports its ‘‘red sheds’’ Warehouse business with the team running Warehouse Stationery.

The teams running its Noel Leeming and Torpedo7 chains will also be combined.

Simon Turner, who looks after the red sheds business, had decided to leave the company as a result of the shake-up, The Warehouse said in a statement.

The Warehouse chief executive Nick Grayston said the changes were designed to improve the company’s financial performance by removing ‘‘significant cost’’ and to make the firm more agile.

The announcement followed a profit warning issued on December 20, when The Warehouse said trading in the run-up to Christmas had been below expectations.

Grayston said the retailer would provide more information on the costs and benefits of the management changes when it reported its interim results in March. ‘‘We will implement a series of operating model changes in the coming months,’’ he said.

Henderson was not aware of any plans to close any stores: ‘‘At this stage it is probably too early speculate on things like that.’’

Shares in The Warehouse Group closed at $2.77 yesterday, down 1.42 per cent.

Pejman Okhovat, who currently manages Warehouse Stationery and Torpedo7, will take over as manager of The Warehouse’s red sheds and hand over responsibility for Torpedo7 to Tim Edwards, who heads the Noel Leeming chain.