Reject Shop’s CEO is leaving the company after just six months

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

In a statement to the ASX on Wednesday, the company said Phil Bishop had resigned for personal reasons and the search for his replacement would begin immediately. He is leaving with six months’ salary and legal entitlements.

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

The company’s shares slipped 2.4 percent to $4 around midday.

Bishop was Chief Operating Officer at Officeworks before joining The Reject Shop in July. His predecessor Andre Reich resigned from his top position in April to devote himself to other tasks.

The company’s chief financial officer, Clinton Cahn, will become acting chief executive, having assumed the role during the transition period between Reich and Bishop last year. Even with the search for a new CEO, he remains CFO.

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

But business has been improving in recent months, with the company posting a 3.5 percent increase in sales to $439.7 million for the six-month period and an operating profit of between $22.5 million and $23.5 million recorded, up from $20.5 million in the December half of 2021.