Reject Shop CEO leaves after just six months

Discount retail chain The Reject Shop has lost its chief executive after just six months in the job as its sales recovered from last year’s COVID slump.

In an announcement to the ASX on Wednesday, the company said Phil Bishop had resigned for personal reasons, and that the search for his replacement would commence immediately. He will leave with six months’ pay and statutory entitlements.

“On behalf of the board and The Reject Shop team, we thank Phil for his work over the past six months and wish him well,” the retailer’s chairman Steven Fisher said.

Shares in the company slipped 2.4 per cent to $4 about midday.

Bishop served as chief operating officer at Officeworks before joining The Reject Shop in July. His predecessor Andre Reich had resigned from the top job to pursue other opportunities in April.

The company’s Chief Financial Officer, Clinton Cahn, will be acting chief executive, having performed the role in the transition period between Reich and Bishop last year. He’ll also remain finance chief during the search for a new CEO.

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The Reject Shop, which has 377 stores across Australia, flailed in the first half of last year, as shoppers stayed at home due to the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

But business improved over the past months, with the company flagging a 3.5 per cent rise in sales to $439.7 million for the latest half, and operating earnings between $22.5 million and $23.5 million, up from $20.5 million in the December half of 2021.