Woolworths is jettisoning its senior leadership team as Australia's largest retailer tries to recover ground lost to its supermarket rivals.
With chief executive Grant O'Brien already on the way out, chairman Ralph Waters is stepping down after the once market-leading supermarket giant suffered a 12.5 per cent slide in its full year profit to $2.15 billion.
The most pressing task for his replacement, Origin Energy chairman Gordon Cairns, is appointing a new chief executive to help lead Woolworths against fierce competition from the likes of arch rival Coles and German retailer Aldi in the increasingly crowded supermarket sector.
Woolworths's net profit for the year to June 30 was down from $2.45 billion in 2013/14, while net profit before significant items - such as $43 million in redundancy costs and the $148 million spent trying to lift struggling discount retailer Big W - fell for the first time in 19 years.
Ratings agency Standard & Poors lowered Woolworth's credit rating from A to BBB+ on the results.
"If the company disappoints the market in any way, there are two people who carry the responsibility: the CEO and the chairman," Mr Waters said.
"I've put my hand up."
Woolworths shares closed up 35 cents, or 1.29 per cent, at $27.40.
The board is ready to interview CEO candidates but Mr Waters refused to discuss what mistakes, if any, had been made by Woolworths during his nearly four years as chairman.
He acknowledged only that Woolworths had not been "firing at its best".
"When you have years of outstanding performance like Woolworths has had, people get used to it and they get very disappointed when it doesn't," he said.
"I don't think there's any value at all in me dragging over the entrails of the past. I've done my bit by volunteering to assist the renewals process."
Mr Waters' departure is the latest in a string for Woolworths, which also owns liquor business Dan Murphy's and Masters hardware stores.
Big W managing director Alistair McGeorge, who had been the subject of complaints about his behaviour, resigned last week for what Woolworths called health reasons.
Supermarkets director Tjeerd Jegen, supermarkets finance director Martyn Roberts and chief marketing officer Tony Phillips have also left in 2015.
Woolworths' core food and liquor business lifted total sales 2.3 per cent for the year, while comparable sales were up just 0.7 per cent despite a $200 million second-half spend on lowering prices.
Coles recorded a 5.3 per cent rise in total sales and a 3.9 per cent increase in comparable sales for the same period.
Same store general merchandise sales, to which Big W contributes, dropped 7.2 per cent to $4.1 billion, while Masters' loss before interest and tax widened 39.5 per cent to $245.6 million for 2014/15.
Woolworths still plans to open between five and eight Masters stores, which compete with the dominant Bunnings chain operated by Coles' parent company Wesfarmers, each year "for the next few years".
WOOLWORTHS PROFIT DIVES
* Net profit down 12.5pct to $2.15b
* Sales down 0.2pct to $60.7b
* Final dividend flat at 72 cents
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