Majestic boosts directors’ roles to support Gormley as MD

Majestic Retail has boosted the roles of two of its senior directors to support the Group CEO and Retail managing director Rowan Gormley, db has learnt.

Richard Weaver, buying and merchandising director at Majestic Wine

Majestic Wine’s head of buying Richard Weaver and operations director Rob Farnworth are taking on a greater role in the Majestic Retail, the company has confirmed to db, following the departure last month of the Retail business’s managing director John Colley.

In April, it was announced that Colley was quitting the specialist wine company, with Group CEO Rowan Gormley taking on the additional role, supported by the board. However a Majestic spokesman confirmed to db that the two directors were also “stepping up their activities” in certain area.

Colley’s departure after less than 18 months in the role was described by Shore Capital analyst Phil Carrol as a significant loss” to Majestic’s talent pool, but that he had put the “required building blocks in place” since joining in November 2015, making the wine retail business more fit for purpose.

“John was with us at at a time that coincided with the very ‘heavy lifting’ that that the company went through at the beginning of the transformation process, but we are in a very different place now to where we were two years ago,” the spokesman said. “Rowan is the Retail MD but obviously he has other responsibilities so those on the retail board have stepped up and taken on [some of] those responsibilities.”

Weaver has seventeen years experience in the trade, having joined Majestic’s retail management training scheme in 1998. He was appointed buying & merchandising director at Majestic Wine in November 2015, after serving as its merchandising director and spending six years heading up the company’s e-commerce operation. His role includes leading the commercial function at the wine specialist retailer, with responsibility for range design, space planning, product selection and sourcing, pricing and promotions, and forecasting.

Farnworth joined Majestic in January 2016 from outside the wine industry. He had previously worked with Colley at trade tool wholesaler Screwfix Direct as head of retail when Colley was commercial director, and more recently as Retailer Operations Director at Hobbycraft, and healthcare providers MiHomecare and Helping Hands Homecare.

On Friday, the company announced it was ‘past the tipping point’ both financially and operationally as it reported double-digit sales growth of 15.8% to £465.4 million in the 53 weeks to 3 April 2017. However profits were hit by the company’s investment to bolster its operations, as well as costs related to the Naked Wine acquisition, one-off costs and the Brexit effect on foreign exchange.

In the last 18 months, the retailer has seen a major overhaul of its store estate and online business, with its stores undergoing a refit and re-range to make them more appropriate for the customer demographic, and easier for consumers to shop, the introduction of next day and timed delivery for its online operation, following the opening a new national fulfilment centre. The range has also been revamped, with duplication stripped out, a renewed commitment to exclusive ‘WIGIG’ wine parcels and its first entry level wine range introduced last month.