KEY POINTS:
Five out of the six directors of Carpet Court have been removed from the board in a radical shake-up of the flooring retailer.
Chairman of 10 years Chris Ogden has been replaced by Rodney Martin, whose investment vehicle Lincoln Capital Partners took a controlling interest late last year. Ogden will retain his position as chief executive of the Carpet Court group and Lincoln Capital.
Martin, who has been progressively acquiring Carpet Court stores for the past three years, said the move was designed to separate the functions of corporate governance, including senior management appointment and remuneration, from the day-to-day management. He said it was his call to replace the board, as the group looked to expand its market share by buying up independent stores here and across the ditch.
"The problem was that the existing board members, who were all managers, are very involved in the day-to-day running of the company. So they are very much bogged down with their daily operations of how to make a dollar out of selling carpet every day, which is a different thing to be thinking about than how do we grow this company from 30 per cent of the New Zealand market to 50 per cent.
"I want the management team focused on how to make as much money as they can out of selling carpets through the businesses that we already own, and leave the board to think about the growth by acquisition strategy."
The other directors who have stood down are Carpet Court Napier's John Danks, Palmerston North's Paul Derbyshire, Tauranga's Steven Ferris and the Gisborne outlet's Roger Faber. Danks and Derbyshire will continue as northern regional manager and central regional manager for Carpet Court and Lincoln Capital. Wanganui-based professional director Denis Woods is the sole member remaining on the board.
Joining him and Martin are Christchurch Carpet Court store owner Mark Fitzgibbon, who also chairs the newly formed Carpet Court New Zealand franchise advisory council, and former Citibank New Zealand chief executive Sandy Maier, who also chairs Martin's $400 million printing group Geon.
A further two stores, in Wellington and Napier, have been added to the stable of independent, non-Carpet Court stores. The 10 stores, with the exception of a large Melbourne outfit, will eventually be rebranded under a shared banner, The Floor Store, in the coming months. The group is now the largest flooring retailer in New Zealand with 70 stores generating almost $200 million in annual revenue.
