Kathmandu boss eyes expansion

Xavier Simonet, the new CEO of Kathmandu, has experience of turning around struggling companies.

Kathmandu’s CEO confident in brand’s strength in sector.

Kathmandu's new chief executive, French born Xavier Simonet, is already eyeing up global growth for the outdoor clothing and equipment retailer despite its current market struggles.

The 45-year-old father of five - who started in his role the day after Briscoe Group announced its takeover intention for Kathmandu - doesn't seem too concerned about the challenges he will be facing to turn the struggling retailer around, saying he was confident in the strength of the brand and its following.

"Kathmandu is a great company and a very strong brand," Simonet said. "It has a good leadership position in New Zealand and Australia, and it's a very successful vertically integrated business with a strong footprint in both countries so for me that's a good starting point."

Simonet already has a lot of experience in the apparel sector, and with struggling companies in particular.

His last role prior to joining Kathmandu was with global women's accessories brand Radley + Co as its chief executive. At the time of his arrival, Simonet said the business had gone through a difficult few years, not unlike Kathmandu, and by the time he left two and a half years later, profits had almost tripled.

He said his priority now was to focus on figuring out what Kathmandu's issues were and then to turn things around - and he hadn't ruled out further expansion globally once this was done.

"There's a lot of work to do [with Kathmandu] on the distinctiveness of the brand and what the brand stands for in Australia and New Zealand, but also in the context of expanding internationally and online - which are great opportunities," Simonet said.

Despite the challenges, he said having such a strong loyalty programme through Kathmandu's Summit Club, which has 1.4 million members, would also help. He said the programme provided an avenue to give value to customers, not just through discounting and promotions, which he said had not been done effectively recently, but also through inspiring its members around the brand itself.

"We've had a period of poor trading as we all know," Simonet said. "It's been influenced by the weather, for sure, but also by the market itself. A lot of retailers have suffered in Australia and New Zealand and we're one of them," he said. "I think the issue has been deepened by the way we structured discounts and deals and promotions, which has actually not helped us, but made the problem bigger so that's something I'm addressing at the moment." In its latest annual report, Kathmandu posted a first-half-year loss of $1.8 million for the six months ending January 31, down from a profit of $11.4 million a year earlier.

Retail analysts had attributed some of the company's slowdown to an overcrowded market sector. However, Simonet said this was not his biggest concern.

"The outdoor category is a very competitive business with global brands and also lots of local brands and so how we position ourselves will be important."

Simonet declined to comment on the takeover offer from Briscoe Group and its chief executive Rod Duke but said it was not a surprise.

"I think Kathmandu is a great company with fantastic opportunities and it's a great brand, so to a certain extent it's not surprising that there is interest in the company."

Xavier Simonet

• 1996-2006 LVMH in various roles including as managing director for Guerlain UK and Ireland.
• 2006-2010 International director at Seafolly Australia.
• 2010-2013 International general manager at DBApparel Group in Paris.
• 2013-2015 Chief executive of Radley + Co London.
• 2015 Chief executive of Kathmandu.