Corporate: the Reject Shop says the turnaround is on track

It has been a rough 3 years for the Reject Shop (ASX:TRS) with the share price less than 15 per cent of what it was in mid-2016.

The long-term decline was due to a run of disappointing financial results and, since May, the discount retailer has been looking for a new CEO after Ross Sudano departed.

But this morning the company declared it was headed towards better times. In the first 15 weeks of this financial year, comparable sales performance was up 0.3 per cent. This may seem minuscule but the same figure for the second half of the last financial year was -2.5 per cent.

Chairman Steven Fisher credited the turnaround plan of acting CEO Dani Aquilina and promised profitability was not far away. He also said a new CEO would be appointed within the next 6-8 weeks.

At today’s AGM Aquilina acknowledged the company had lost its way by shifting away from its roots as a discount variety retailer and consumers had voted with their feet.

But she said the latest results showed the turnaround plan was on track.

The company promised it would offer its customers more deals as Christmas loomed. Also it would be more aggressive with its occupancy costs – promising to exit where rents were not justified.

“I encourage all shareholders to shop with us and watch as the changes unfold,” Aquilina said.

Despite the company’s proclamation things were getting better, shares fell another 2.3 per cent this morning.

The Reject Shop just flagged a $10.5m profit a week before a takeover offer was due to close

In other ASX small cap corp news today:

ARQ Group (ASX:ARQ) is a month into a strategic review and is looking for cost savings. This morning, it said it wants to sell either its SMB division or Enterprise division. The tech company also reiterated its earnings guidance of $9.7 million to $10.7 million for the 2019 year.

Lithium Australia (ASX:LIT) has topped up its stake in Envirostream Australia to 23.9 per cent. Envirostream separates and recovers components of spent lithium-ion batteries and is the only company in Australia with integrated capacity to do so right now. This means the batteries can be recycled and therefore the environmental impact of batteries is minimised.

Carnegie Clean Energy (ASX:CCE) will not walk away from its attempts to build a wave energy project empty handed. The company won a contract to build the project at Albany but lost it after the McGowan government was concerned it could not complete the project. In recognition of work done the Australian Renewable Energy Agency has agreed to pay a partial milestone payment of $865,493. This money will go towards the company’s current digital ventures.