Dive Brief:
- Petco on Tuesday announced Sabrina Simmons has been appointed chief financial officer, replacing Brian LaRose, who has held the position since 2021.
- Simmons, who resigned from the company’s board to take its financial reins, previously held various senior finance roles at clothing retailer Gap for over a decade, including serving as CFO from 2008 to 2017, according to a Tuesday securities filing.
- Petco also named Michael Romanko, formerly with Five Below, as its chief customer and product officer, and Jack Stout, formerly chief marketing officer at the convenience store chain 7-Eleven, to become its chief marketing officer, effective Feb. 24.
Dive Insight:
The executive hires — which were made to support “a faster return to profitable growth” — come roughly six months after Petco scooped up Joel Anderson, formerly CEO of Five Below, as its new chief executive.
Sabrina Simmons
Courtesy of Petco
The “appointments represent a significant evolution of Petco’s leadership team that brings robust retail expertise to help accelerate initiatives we’re undertaking to strengthen our retail fundamentals, drive profit improvement and return us to growth,” Anderson said in a statement. “Sabrina, Michael and Jack are seasoned leaders with proven track records, who will further help us unlock value for our customers, partners and shareholders.”
In a Wednesday note, Wedbush analysts led by Seth Basham said they do not believe the CFO change and LaRose’s exit raises any concern about the company’s Q4 results or its financial health. “Rather, when taken in context with other just announced hires, we believe the CFO change reflects CEO Joel Anderson putting his team into place to execute his existing strategy,” Basham said. The analysts asserted Simmons’ retail turnaround and treasury experience are a good fit with Petco as it executes its “back-to-basics retail approach to improve profitability, shore up its balance sheet and drive free cash flow.”
In the company’s most recent earnings report, the company reported third-quarter net revenue rose 1.2% year over year to $1.51 billion. Net loss improved to $16.7 million in the period, compared to a net loss of $1.2 billion in the prior year.
The company’s new CFO is a veteran finance leader with more than 20 years of executive-level financial experience, who has served as both a member of the Petco board and as audit chair since 2021. As an executive at Gap, Simmons supported “multi-year operational transformation and delivered significant margin expansion,” according to the release.