Lovisa CEO John Cheston at center of bombshell allegations by Solomon Lew over Smiggle era

In a Thursday media conference, Solomon Lew, the billionaire founder of Premier Investments and chair of Just Group, accused John Cheston, the former Smiggle chief who moved to Lovisa, of encouraging a workplace culture in which staff drank and gambled during office hours. Lew said the allegations relate to Cheston during his tenure at Smiggle while Lew controlled the brand.

Lew said a very serious investigation by a law firm was underway, with interviews of staff and others. He claimed people were being paid to be at work but not working, consuming alcohol, and gambling with colleagues, and that bullying was not reported. He noted that some individuals who were involved had left the company.

Cheston's legal counsel, Rebekah Giles, rejected the allegations as untrue. She said Cheston declined Premier's offer to lead a separate Smiggle business and instead took the CEO post at Lovisa. She described Lew's assertions as a rant and urged Premier to move on.

Lew said Premier had not paid Cheston any further remuneration after firing him and had clawed back about 5.2 million dollars. He added that Smiggle still lacks a permanent chief executive because Premier is being very careful in selecting a replacement. Smiggle operates 296 stores, about half in Australia, and has around 80 head office staff.

Premier Investments reported revenue of 831.3 million dollars for the 52 weeks to July 26, up 1.2 percent from a year earlier. Peter Alexander, the sleepwear brand, posted sales of 548 million dollars, up 7.7 percent. Premier said statutory profit rose 31.1 percent to 338.2 million, aided by the divestment of its clothing stores Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Dotti and Jacqui E to Myer in January. Its underlying profit from continuing operations, excluding those divestments and costs associated with Peter Alexander's entry into the UK market, fell 14.9 percent to 220.3 million.