FURNITURE and electrical retailer Harvey Norman yesterday refused to comment on reports from inside the company that chief financial officer John Skippen had left the group.
Sources told The Australian Mr Skippen was packing up his desk at the company’s headquarters in Sydney’s Homebush, but chairman Gerry Harvey’s office refused to confirm or deny the account.
Analysts said a departure by Mr Skippen, who has spent almost 12 years at Harvey Norman, would be a huge loss for the company.
“I don’t think Gerry really runs the place – Skippen does a huge amount. I can’t imagine why they’d give him the bullet,” said one analyst.
Another analyst who asked not to be named said Mr Skippen, who also served as company secretary, was the public face of Harvey Norman in the financial community.
“He’s certainly the face of Harvey Norman to the market. He does a hell of a lot of work outside the normal CFO role,” he said.
Mr Skippen sold 100,000 shares in Harvey Norman in March for $380,000, but retained almost 1.5 million shares and 2.4 million options.
The most likely destination for Mr Skippen, if he were to leave Harvey Norman, would be Myer, sold off by Coles for $1.4 billion last month to a consortium led by Newbridge Capital, which has been recruiting senior retail executives.
Mr Skippen, 58, is also a director of Harvey Norman’s 55 per cent-owned sporting goods subsidiary Rebel Sport.
Over the past 10 years he has overseen the introduction of new technology systems and undertaken the lion’s share of due diligence work on takeover targets.
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