(Reuters) - Australia's Myer Holdings <MYR.AX> has hired John King, a former head of British retailer House of Fraser, as its new chief executive as the nation's biggest department store struggles against Amazon.com Inc <AMZN.O> and other online competitors.
Shares of Myer were up about 5.6 percent on Monday after the announcement, compared to a 0.3 percent rise in the wider market <.AXJO>.
King's hiring comes two months after Myer announced the unexpected departure of its last chief executive, Richard Umbers, and a month after it posted its biggest half yearly loss since listing.
Umbers had stepped down in February amid calls for a revamp of the company's board from several shareholders, including from billionaire retail investor Solomon Lew.
Once a retail heavyweight in the world's 12th largest economy, Myer has seen its market capitalization shrink to less than a tenth of its 2009 listing value as it struggles to attract customers amid an explosion in online sales.
The 118-year old retailer's woes have grown after
Amazon.com made its first foray into Australia last year.
The S&P Dow Jones Indices has also excluded Myer from the benchmark Australian Index <.AXJO> since last month.
(Reporting by Ambar Warrick in Bengaluru; Editing by Byron Kaye and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
