In her address to the annual meeting, Ms Withers said the board had to take responsibility for what had gone before.
"There have been serious missteps in the past."
The divestment of Financial Services just after the end of the financial year, and the recognition of the significant losses associated with ownership of the entity, was another example of where value had been destroyed.
The group commissioned an independent report on its reputation with institutional investors during the year, she said.It highlighted the need to demonstrate the group’s ability to execute and be better at communicating what it was doing.
"We are absolutely committed to better explaining to the market and to our retail shareholders what we are trying to do, where we see the future success of the business and how we are progressing against our execution plans."
This time last year, The Warehouse Group’s share price was about $3. Yesterday, it was $2.10.
The fall in market value was of serious concern for the board and something it was committed to rectifying.
Part of the fall related to the sector, and the imminent arrival of Amazon in Australia. Retail shares in the region had suffered losses in value, Ms Withers said. More than $2billion was wiped off the value of ASX-listed retailers in the month following Amazon’s announcement it was bringing its retail offer to Australia, she said.
Some retailers were right to fear the arrival of Amazon, particularly those who had done little to change their business models to engage customers in the digital era, Ms Withers said.
Globally, retailers were besieged, and only those who were the fittest and who had made the changes needed to compete for today’s customers were successful, she said.
"We are going through a period of change unprecedented in the company’s history and we believe we will be in good shape to compete with the likes of Amazon," Ms Withers said.
