Superdry’s board resigns following return of founder

Almost the entire board of executives have resigned from retailer Superdry after its founder Julian Dunkerton narrowly won a shareholder vote to return to the company.

Dunkerton was appointed interim chief executive after he won the support of 51.15% of the shareholders following a long dispute between Superdry’s management and Dunkerton. Management has blamed Dunkerton for the retailer’s problems and the two have disagreed on the company’s strategy.

Dunkerton stepped down from Superdry in 2014 but stated his intention to return to turn things around in 2018.

Before the vote, the board said it “unanimously believed” his return would be “extremely damaging” to the company. After the vote passed, an emergency board meeting was held which saw the resignation of eight directors.

Peter Bamford, chairman, Euan Sutherland, CEO, Ed Barker, CFO, and Penny Hughes, chairman of the remuneration committee resigned and stood down with immediate effect. Dennis Millard, Minnow Powell, Sarah Wood and John Smith have given three months’ notice and will stand down as directors with effect from 1 July 2019.

Peter Williams has been appointed as chairman of the board while group general counsel and company secretary Simon Callander has remained. Superdry’s brokers, UBS and Investec, have also resigned.

Williams and Dunkerton said in a statement: “We are very pleased to be joining the board of this great British company. We look forward to rebuilding the Superdry brand and the business.”