Home Furniture Group Holdings has appointed Mark Smith as Group Chief Operating Officer, bringing one of Australia’s most experienced retail operators into the fold as the $1 billion business accelerates its growth agenda ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO) on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Mark joins the group – which comprises Amart Furniture and Freedom Furniture, both owned by private equity firm Quadrant Private Equity – from National Pharmacies, where he served as Chief Executive Officer. Originally from the United Kingdom, over the past decade he has held executive leadership roles in Australia with Viva Energy, OTR, Coles and Woolworths.
The Home Furniture Group search for a COO was led by Adrian Belle, Chief Executive Officer of Allura Partners, alongside Senior Consultant Elizabeth Ocampo. Working closely with Amart Chief Executive Officer, Lee Chadwick, the team identified Mark as the standout candidate – an operator with diverse experience and capacity to manage complexity across two distinct retail brands, along with the credibility to steer a business through the demands of an IPO process.
“Finding the right COO for a dual-brand group of this scale, at this stage of its journey, required someone who had genuinely run something,” said Adrian Belle. “Mark has done that. He understands what it takes to build operational infrastructure that can hold the weight of serious growth.”
As is his nature, Mark is upfront about where he sees the opportunity. “There’s a lot to do in terms of standardisation, and a lot to do on the customer journey, that’s what makes it so exciting” he said. “That suits me because I like negotiation, building something new and driving sustainable growth”,
The growth priorities for Home Furniture Group are substantive. Mark will drive a reconfiguration of the distribution centre footprint, pursue new store openings and co-locations in fresh catchment areas – including New Zealand – and lead a program of store layout upgrades across both brands. Beyond the physical network, he will develop the group’s loyalty program, explore business-to-business market opportunities, and assess opportunities to develop new products, including for instance, interest-free financing to boost conversion and average basket size.
The transition from private equity ownership to ASX listing adds another layer of complexity, but this is territory that Mark is also familiar with.
As he prepared to take on his new role, Mark said he was looking forward to preparing and driving Home Furniture Group through the IPO and beyond.
“This business is going to keep building, and that’s what excites me. I like fast paced environments where we can make a real difference to the industry.”
Home Furniture Group is one of Australia and New Zealand's largest home retail businesses, bringing together two heritage Australian furniture brands, Amart, founded in 1970, and Freedom, established in 1981. The group operates 126 stores across Australia and New Zealand, employs more than 2,200 staff, and generates annual sales exceeding $1 billion.
Quadrant Private Equity is one of Australia's leading private equity firms, headquartered in Sydney. The firm focuses on building meaningful growth partnerships with founders, families, and management teams across Australia and New Zealand, and has completed over 100 investments with 70 successful exits. Quadrant invests across a range of sectors including retail, healthcare, media, consumer foods, and financial services.