Premier Investments chairman Solomon Lew has sent a letter to 5000 Myer shareholders.
The letter was issued last week, following the Myer Annual General Meeting.
Lew, a majority shareholder in Myer, used the letter to confirm his campaign against the department store would continue.
Here it is in full:
Dear fellow long-suffering Myer shareholder,
I am writing to thank you for your support at last week’s Myer Annual General Meeting, where together we
sent the strongest possible message to the failed Myer Board that their time is up.
Our combined votes led to Myer receiving a damning “second strike ” against its remuneration report.
Working together, we delivered a 38% vote against the remuneration report, a 36% vote against Myer
Director Mr Whittle, and a 43% vote against Myer Director Ms. Cattermole. We also registered a massive
36% vote for the motion to remove the Myer Board, which is the clearest signal that the Myer Board’s time is
running out. It is now simply a matter of time before the shareholders prevail.
The “second strike ” and the level of votes against the Board is unprecedented for an ASX listed entity with a
similar large spread of shareholders. The anger of shareholders is clear to everyone except Mr Hounsell and
his Myer Board.
Mr Hounsell and the rest of the Myer Board have refused to be take responsibility for the destruction of $2.2
billion in shareholder wealth since listing, have refused to take responsibility for the share price being down
half in just one year, have refused to take responsibility for almost half a billion dollar loss in FY18, have
refused to take responsibility to stop paying dividends for the foreseeable future and have refused to take
responsibility for the declining sales of 4.8% in first quarter FY19.
Unbelievably, Myer Chairman Garry Hounsell actually criticised Premier and other shareholders at the
meeting for daring to question the Board’s track record! This is a board that is out of touch with reality and
incapable of listening to ordinary shareholders who have seen the value of their investment in Myer
destroyed.
Our campaign is about saving Myer- one of the great Australian retailing icons- from collapse at the hands of
this incompetent Board. Myer desperately needs a new independent Board with the requisite skills.
I want to thank you for your support, and to ask you to stay with us as we go to the next level of our
campaign. Your support and your vote is vital if we are to save Myer.
I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year,
Solomon Lew
Chairman
Premier Investments Limited