Michael Hill recruits new marketing, retail chiefs

Jo Feeney joins the jewellery retailer as chief marketing officer as its looks for continued growth in 2021

ASX-listed retailer, Michael Hill Jeweller, has recruited Jo Feeney as its new chief marketing officer as it looks to chart a course for continuing growth in 2021.

Feeney has spent more than seven years at McDonalds, initially as national marketing manager before being promoted to director of marketing in November 2015. She has also held senior brand and marketing roles with Vividwireless, Foxtel and Telstra.

She’s being joined at Michael Hill by Amy Sznicer, who takes on the chief retail officer’s post. Sznicer has spent the last six years as the owner of her own retail business. Prior to this, she was GM of retail for Witchery and also held similar roles at Bras N Things and Busbrands.

The news of the two executive appointments follows the departure of Michael Hill’s chief brand and strategy officer, Vanessa Brennan, and chief operating officer, Andrea Slingsby, and was made as part of a general trading update by the company to the market on 15 January 2021.

Over the six months to 27 December 2020, Michael Hill reported same store sales were up 6.3 per cent for the first half to $312.1 million, and up 5.6 per cent on the quarter against the prior year in Australia to $195.3m. EBIT for the first half was $41 million to $45 million, up from $31.6m in H1 2020. This came after the group was forced to close stores between May and July 2020 due to the pandemic, triggering a significant profit drop.

In addition, digital sales had lifted 102 per cent to bring digital as a portion of total sales up to 5.8 per cent. The company is now forecasting second-half EBIT of $56 million to $60 million,

Michael Hill CEO, Daniel Bracken, said it had been a strong first five months followed by positive same store sales growth during the all-important Christmas trading period.

“I am delighted our strong trading performance across the half, coupled with our unwavering focus on costs, has in turn delivered material EBIT growth for the group, in spite of challenging trading conditions worldwide,” he commented.  “All areas of the business have contributed to this outstanding performance, as the rhythm of the business and our strategic initiatives operated in unison.

“These results reaffirm our continued focus on a balance of both margin and sales growth, underpinned by a number of our strategic initiatives - brand, digital transformation, loyalty, retail fundamentals, and product mix.”

As Michael Hill emerges from what has been a critical trading period, with a stronger balance sheet, Bracken said the two leaders would to help continue to transform and inspire growth.

“Considering the global challenges over the last year, I couldn’t be prouder of the dedication, energy and resilience consistently demonstrated by our teams, as we prioritise best-in-class health and safety protocols and continue to delight our loyal customers,” Bracken added. “All of our global markets were directly impacted by the pandemic in the first half, and I would like to make special mention of our Victorian and now our Canadian teams, who have weathered extended periods of disruption for both themselves and their families.”

Founded in New Zealand and also listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange, Michael Hill has 289 stores across A/NZ and Canada.

Commenting on Feeney's departure, a McDonalds spokesperson told CMO the business was grateful for her strategic contribution over the past seven years.

“In her role as director of marketing, Jo helped drive the business to achieve significant market growth throughout a period of major consumer change," the spokesperson said. “We are excited for Jo as she takes on this new leadership role in one of the country’s most well-known retail brands and wish her all the best for her continued success.

The spokesperson added an announcement regarding the director of marketing role has yet to be made.

Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, follow our regular updates via CMO Australia's Linkedin company page, or join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia.

 

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.
Show Comments

Latest Videos

More Videos

More Brand Posts

What are Chris Riddell's qualifications to talk about technology? What are the awards that Chris Riddell has won? I cannot seem to find ...

Tareq

Digital disruption isn’t disruption anymore: Why it’s time to refocus your business

Read more

Enterprisetalk

Mark

CMO's top 10 martech stories for the week - 9 June

Read more

Great e-commerce article!

Vadim Frost

CMO’s State of CX Leadership 2022 report finds the CX striving to align to business outcomes

Read more

Are you searching something related to Lottery and Lottery App then Agnito Technologies can be a help for you Agnito comes out as a true ...

jackson13

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Thorough testing and quality assurance are required for a bug-free Lottery Platform. I'm looking forward to dependability.

Ella Hall

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Blog Posts

Marketing prowess versus the enigma of the metaverse

Flash back to the classic film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Television-obsessed Mike insists on becoming the first person to be ‘sent by Wonkavision’, dematerialising on one end, pixel by pixel, and materialising in another space. His cinematic dreams are realised thanks to rash decisions as he is shrunken down to fit the digital universe, followed by a trip to the taffy puller to return to normal size.

Liz Miller

VP, Constellation Research

Why Excellent Leadership Begins with Vertical Growth

Why is it there is no shortage of leadership development materials, yet outstanding leadership is so rare? Despite having access to so many leadership principles, tools, systems and processes, why is it so hard to develop and improve as a leader?

Michael Bunting

Author, leadership expert

More than money talks in sports sponsorship

As a nation united by sport, brands are beginning to learn money alone won’t talk without aligned values and action. If recent events with major leagues and their players have shown us anything, it’s the next generation of athletes are standing by what they believe in – and they won’t let their values be superseded by money.

Simone Waugh

Managing Director, Publicis Queensland

Sign in