Private equity firm to appoint industry veteran Andy Meehan as chairman
American Golf is to draft in corporate restructuring specialist Andy Meehan as chairman to help turn around sales and profits.

Private equity backer Lloyds Development Capital (LDC) is bringing in Meehan after the retailer's operating profit crashed from£4 million to£740,000. Operating margin fell from 6 per cent to 1.1 per cent and sales slid 3.1 per cent to£64.8 million for the year to January 29, according to figures filed at Companies House.

American Golf is the latest in a line of retailers to disappoint their private equity owners, following the retail buying spree of recent years. Faith, Focus, Rosebys and Ethel Austin are among those to have hit turbulence. American Golf's performance dip will be a blow to LDC, which backed a£40 million management buy-out of the chain in 2004. It was understood to be planning to sell or float the business within the next two years.

Meehan, former chief executive of corporate recovery specialist Gordon Brothers, will replace Tim Brookes, who left the business last month. Business development director Andrew McDonald has replaced Jonathan Fellows as chief executive, following the latter's resignation in July.

McDonald said price deflation in golf clubs and a lack of innovation last year had hit the market hard, but the business has managed positive like-for-like sales growth over recent months. 'My aim is to improve operational standards in stores, get like-for-likes back on track and then consider growth opportunities,' he said.

McDonald has launched a number of initiatives including a price-matching policy, a refocus on own-brand product and increased investment in the online business.

Retail Knowledge Bank senior partner Robert Clark said: 'American Golf is the market leader in the sector and potentially well-positioned, but it will be a major challenge to reverse this sales decline.'

Rival retailer JJB Sports acquired home shopping group Golf TV earlier this year. JJB director of golf Martin Wild said: 'It's been a very tough year for golf. The industry has probably been down 20 per cent and we're level on last year, so we're probably taking market share. The World Cup had a major impact.'

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