Former Bremworth CEO Paul Alston's $500k golden goodbye

Bremworth, formerly Cavalier, paid its former CEO Paul Alston $0.5m on his departure. Photo / File

Paul Alston, the former chief executive of Cavalier Corporation (now Bremworth), received a half-a-million dollar termination payment upon his departure from the carpet maker, the company's annual report shows.

The report said Alston received a $508,560 payment which, on top of his salary of $508,559 and other benefits, took the total remuneration to $1.22 million for the June year.

Alston joined Cavalier as chief financial officer in 2012 and has served as the chief executive officer since May 2015. Bremworth announced his resignation in April this year.

Alston oversaw the turnaround and restructure of the business, as well as the development of its new, all-wool and natural fibres strategy.

He was credited with leading the company through a period of change and positioning it for the future.

Current chief executive Greg Smith took up the role in July, having previously been CEO of Icebreaker and a senior executive with Michael Hill Jeweller.

The company, which concluded the sale and leaseback of its Auckland property for a net $25m last December, said its operating cashflows for the June year came to $16.2m, up from $6.8m in the prior year.

Bremworth reported a $1.7m net profit after tax, up from $21.5m loss in 2020.

"Normalised profit" excluding one-off items such as a $2.6m net gain on the sale of the Auckland property was $376,000.

At balance date, the company had no debt and $22.5m in the bank.

The company's shares last traded at 75c, having gained 142 per cent over the past 12 months.