Domino’s executive chair Jack Cowin insists pizza chain ‘not in disarray’ after Mark van Dyck’s abrupt exit
Jack Cowin, Domino’s 82-year-old chair and Hungry Jack’s founder, has assured worried investors the struggling pizza chain is “not in disarray” a day after announcing its CEO of less than eight months had resigned.
Addressing analysts and investors on Thursday a day after it was revealed he would take the reins as executive chair, Mr Cowin said outgoing chief executive Mark van Dyck was not pushed to leave and that it was solely his decision.
Domino’s shocked the market on Wednesday by announcing Mr van Dyck — who only took over from long-serving chief executive Don Meij in November — had signalled his intention to step down.
Domino’s insisted the departure was unrelated to its strategy, but the unexpected exit added to investor uncertainty around the company as it resets.
The news sent shares tumbling 16 per cent to $16.96 on Wednesday. The share price posted a slight recovery to close up 2.2 per cent $17.33 on Thursday.
“This company is not in disarray,” Mr Cowin, Domino’s biggest shareholder with a 25 per cent stake, said on Thursday.
Mr Cowin will now take on the day-to-day management of the embattled pizza chain in his executive chair role.
He conceded Domino’s had recorded “flat results” for the past four years and this was unacceptable, saying “the business has got to do better”.
Mr Cowin said Domino’s — which has more than 3700 stores spread across Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Europe — needed to lower its costs and was targeting to lift same-store sales by 3 per cent.
Domino’s delivered a $22 million loss in the half-year, with the company smashed by hefty restructuring costs related to mass store closures.
Mr van Dyck’s first major move as chief executive was to swing the axe on 205 loss-making stores, majority in Japan, in a bid to improve Domino’s profitability.
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