Ex-Glassons boss tipped to head Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin Patch poached Di Humphries to be its merchandise and brand manager. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Di Humphries, the former boss of Glassons women's wear chain, is seen as a strong contender for the top job at children's clothing retailer Pumpkin Patch after chief executive Neil Cowie resigned this week.

Pumpkin Patch poached Humphries, a retailing industry veteran, from Hallenstein Glasson last year to be its merchandise and brand manager, meaning she is playing a key role as the executive team rolls out a revamped range, having taken impairment charges last year to overhaul the business.

Chairwoman Jane Freeman said Humphries was among strong internal candidates though the workload of the company was one of the reasons the succession process would take some months. Humphries did not immediately return calls.

"There's a lot to do at the moment," Freeman told BusinessDesk. "While the timing is unfortunate for Neil to be leaving, we have a lot of talent around the executive team and the board table. We can't afford to take our eye off the ball."

Humphries' background includes experience as a buyer for Ezibuy and for Pumpkin Patch before she was hired by Hallenstein Glasson, where she ran its Australian operations before becoming the group's chief buyer and ending up in charge of the Glassons chain. A Herald article in 2004 described her as a former Canterbury women's rugby rep, high school maths and physics whiz and part-time model.

Rickey Ward, equities manager at Tyndall Investment Management, said Humphries had a strong reputation though she wasn't well known to investors in her current role.

Cowie told Pumpkin patch shareholders at their annual meeting last November that Humphries "brings a huge amount of experience around product innovation, development and sourcing". He said she would "add significant leadership capability to our senior management team" when she was appointed last August.

Last month Pumpkin Patch said full-year profit might drop as much as 35 per cent in the face of intense competition in Australia, following a similar warning from Hallenstein Glasson.

Profit after tax, excluding reorganisation costs, is expected to be $7.5 million to $9 million in the 12 months ending July 31, down from $10.1 million a year earlier, as rivals embarked on earlier end-of-season sales. Changes to wholesalers' delivery schedules would also hurt trading activity, it said.