Curiously, the government populism that Lew decries is not a criticism that he also directs to the Coalition. Many others in the big end of town would beg to differ.

In one breath, Lew talks about the government’s mismanagement and its need to make positive decisions about the economy. In the next, he declares that in the 61 years of his retail career, he has never seen it this bad.

That said, the standout underperformer in Premier’s stable of brands in the 2024 financial year was Smiggle, which in part reflected its international profile. Its sales fell 7.4 per cent year-on-year and were 3.4 per cent down on the 2019 pre-COVID performance.

Lew also suggested that its underperformance may have been influenced by management distraction.

The way Lew sees it is that in the current cost-of-living crisis, parents can do without buying another colourful backpack or water bottle for their children.

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The best in brand class was won comprehensively by Peter Alexander, which managed to push through the half-billion sales mark for the first time. Next month it will open the three outlets in the UK – a test to see how the brand will translate with the British. (So no new $40 lunchboxes for the kids, but parents seem happy enough to fork out $140 for Peter Alexander pyjamas.)

Smiggle’s result clearly appeared to concern analysts who were briefed on Wednesday morning.

The result coincided with the decision by Premier to put on ice the demerger of Smiggle and Peter Alexander, which was scheduled for early next year.

The demerger hiatus was greeted poorly by investors who sent Premier’s stock down 9.1 per cent, and appeared to ignore the 16.7 per cent dividend increase, or that gross margins improved, or that its inventory levels were tight as a drum.

Instead, Lew said the strategic priority was the deal engineered to merge Myer with Premier’s five apparel brands, Jay Jays, Dotti, Portmans, Just Jeans and Jacqui E. He said this deal was still going to the due diligence stage but that no red flags had emerged.

But the promise of the Myer deal being a near certainty didn’t lift the mood of investors.

Maybe we can add a falling share price to Lew’s list of dislikes.

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