Premier Investments' chairman Solomon Lew has ramped up his push for changes to Myer's leadership team, suggesting the entire board be "cleaned out."
In his most recent statement to shareholders, Lew expressed his continued frustrations, indicating he would no longer look to deal with department store's board.
"It is now clear to me that the entire Myer board must be cleaned out if the company is to have any chance of surviving. Premier has no interest in working with any of the current Myer directors, nor in doing any form of deal with the current Myer chairman or board."
Lew once again pounced on the news regarding Richard Umbers' departure from his role as Myer CEO, firing shots at chairman and interim CEO Gary Hounsell.
"Myer’s sales declined 5% in the Christmas period, and 6.5% during their January clearance.
"These are disastrous numbers and their effect is that the already-reduced profits of the company will fall significantly and may even be completely wiped out. We shareholders need to brace ourselves for the end of any dividends from Myer.
"To make matters worse, we have now learned that Myer’s CEO, Mr Richard Umbers, has left the business (the latest in a long line of executive departures) and is to be replaced by the discredited chairman, Mr Hounsell, who has no real retail experience, and whose only role as CEO was at the collapsed accounting firm, Arthur Andersen Australia."
Premier Investments has now received an updated copy of the Myer share register, announcing plans to work with Myer shareholders in a bid to oust the current board at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM).
Over the coming weeks, Premier will caucus with the other institutional shareholders in Myer to compose a totally-new Myer board with a majority of independent directors.
Premier also stated that it will pay for the costs of the EGM to "spare fellow Myer shareholders the expense."