The demise of the electronics retailer Dick Smith has come under scrutiny at the New South Wales supreme court, with one senior figure asked why at one point the company kept 141 months’ worth of private labelled AA batteries in stock.
The former Dick Smith company secretary and head of investor relations, David Cooke, was questioned about stock levels and new store openings before the company’s collapse in January this year.
Jeremy Giles SC, acting for the company and receivers, queried network expansions between July and December 2014, when a financial report from that time suggested same-store sales had fallen 7% on the previous year.
“What were you told as to why new stores were being opened?” Giles asked Cooke on Monday.
“That there were attractive locations for new stores,” Cooke told the court in Sydney.
“Anything else?” Giles put to the witness.
Cooke: “Not that I can recollect.”
Cooke was also asked about inventory levels in October 2015, when the company had 141 months “cover” in stocks of private labelled AA batteries, and 131 months worth of AAA batteries.
The court heard Cooke asked the company’s chief executive, chief finance officer and the head of its private label about the overstocked products, and was told it was tied to a marketing drive in the lead-up to Christmas.
Cooke was also asked about an ASX announcement from February 2015 on the company’s first-half results, which said its balance sheet remained strong and “inventory was tightly managed throughout the half”.
Asked to clarify what he meant in writing the statement, Cooke replied, “That inventory was very well controlled during the half.”
Asked if the statement accorded with his own view, Cooke told the court, “Based on discussions with others, yes.”
Cooke is among the first of 10 former senior executives and board members of Dick Smith Holdings to appear at the examination.
Former non-executive director Lorna Raine is the next to give evidence.
Ex-chief executive Nicholas Abboud, former director William Wavish and former chairman Philip Cave are also expected to appear, as receivers try to find out why the firm collapsed.
