Farrell claims she was restricted from doing her job, including compliance with the Corporations Act, due to the issues with Heraghty and Kelly that extended to board level.

The allegations are separate to legal action by another of the retailer’s former senior legal officers, former company secretary Amelia Berczelly.

Super Retail has denied all of the allegations.

The details that Super Retail is seeking to keep suppressed relate to an alleged settlement deal with Farrell, which she wants executed by the court. Super Retail denies there was a settlement deal.

Justice Lee granted an order to keep details of the legal action suppressed until August 28 to give Super Retail time to appeal his decision.

He had earlier rejected Super Retail’s arguments for keeping these details suppressed and noted that a significant amount of information is already public.

“I have already discussed the unsatisfactory nature of the evidence, but one cannot help getting the impression that this argument is far more about what might be thought by the Super Retail parties to be convenient, reasonable, or sensible and preventing material entering the public domain which the [Super Retail] parties would prefer not to be disclosed,” Justice Lee said.

Heraghty would not comment on Thursday about the cost of the legal battle.

The company shocked the market in April when it made an ASX announcement about the brewing battle and flagged allegations of the undisclosed relationship involving its CEO, and bullying claims that were expected to form the basis of a $50 million lawsuit.

Super Retail shares closed 6.2 per cent higher at $17.70 on Thursday, having reached a record of $17.99 earlier in the day, after the company reported a strong start to the 2025 financial year, with 3 per cent like-for-like sales growth (growth at stores which have been open for the whole year) for the seven weeks from July 1.

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Super Retail also announced a fully franked final dividend of 37¢ per share and 50¢ special dividend, taking its cash return to investors for the year to more than $268 million.

For the 2024 financial year, the group reported record revenue of $3.9 billion, up 2 per cent, but rising costs sent its net profit down 9 per cent to $240 million.

Heraghty was cautious about reading too much into the improving numbers since the start of the new year, and whether it meant customers were upgrading their purchases.

“I wouldn’t suggest that basket value is [improving], but it does seem, as we’ve turned to the new financial year, a modest improvement in sentiment across the board. But I’d be very cautiously optimistic about that,” he said.

It certainly caught the eye of market observers such as E&P retail analyst Kade Madigan, who noted the improved sales momentum both in the June half and the current year-to-date.

“The [full-year] result was in line with expectations, however … the better-than-expected early trading should see consensus upgrades” to analyst forecasts, Madigan said.

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