Spotlight Group

Spotlight Group Holdings Pty Ltd (SGH) is an Australian retail conglomerate and one of the country's largest private companies. Its Spotlight Retail Group division operates fabric and craft store chain Spotlight, outdoor retailers Anaconda and Mountain Designs, and department store chain Harris Scarfe. The first Spotlight store was established in Melbourne in 1973 by brothers Morry Fraid and Ruben Fried.

Spotlight Group Holdings
TypeHolding company
IndustryRetail
Founded1973 (1973)
FoundersMorry Fraid and Ruben Fried
Headquarters
Australia
BrandsSpotlight
Anaconda
Mountain Designs
Harris Scarfe
Websitespotlightgroup.com

History

Spotlight was established by brothers Morry Fraid and Ruben Fried, whose names were spelled differently due to a mistake by their teachers. They immigrated to Australia from Israel in 1956 with their parents, who established a fabric stall at the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne. The first Spotlight store was opened in 1973 in Malvern. By 1990 there were 30 stores across Australia and the company was turning over about A$90 million, with the brothers' net worth estimated by the Australian Financial Review as about A$30 million.[1]

Beginning in the late 1990s, Spotlight used economic value added as an internal metric to calculate employee bonuses.[2] By 2006, Spotlight was employing 6,000 people and had a turnover of A$600 million. It used the Howard government's WorkChoices legislation to entice its employees to accept Australian workplace agreements with lower wage rates.[3][4]

In 2017, Spotlight was reportedly Australia's fifth-largest privately owned retailer, behind 7-Eleven, the Peregrine Corporation, Cotton On Group, and Peter Warren Automotive.[5]

Expansion

Outside of Australia, Spotlight has stores in Singapore (1995), New Zealand (1996), and Malaysia (2014).[6]

In March 2018, Spotlight Group announced that it had acquired outdoor retailer Mountain Designs for an undisclosed sum.[7]

In March 2020, Spotlight Group was awarded the exclusive right to bid for Harris Scarfe, a chain of department stores placed into voluntary administration in 2019.[8] The sale proceeded for a reported $70 million.[9] In March 2021, Zac Fried announced that Spotlight Group planned to open 50 new Harris Scarfe stores in order to compete against Big W and Kmart.[10]

Net worth

In 2021, The Australian listed Morry Fraid and Zac Fried, a son of Reuben Fried, as the 30th and 31st richest people in Australia, with a net worth of A$2.81 billion each.[11] Meanwhile and in a contrasting assessment one month later, Morry Fraid, Zac Fried and family were listed on the Financial Review 2021 Rich List with a collective/joint net worth of A$3.19 billion.[12]

Year Financial Review
Rich List		 Forbes
Australia's 50 richest
Rank Net worth
A$		 Rank Net worth
US$
2021[12] $3.19 billion Decrease
2022 33 Decrease $3.20 billion Increase
2023[13] 26 Increase $3.95 billion Increase
Legend
Icon Description
Steady Has not changed from the previous year
Increase Has increased from the previous year
Decrease Has decreased from the previous year

Structure

As of 2021 Spotlight Group Holdings is divided into the Spotlight Property Group, managing the group's property portfolio; the Alara Investment Group, managing other investments; and the Spotlight Retail Group, which is divided into the brands of Spotlight, Anaconda, Mountain Designs, and Harris Scarfe.[14]

References
  1. "Morry Fraid and Reuben Freid". Australian Financial Review. 6 April 1990. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  2. "How the brothers came to know EVA". The Age. 17 June 2004. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  3. Hartcher, Peter (2 June 2006). "Finally, the monster is unleashed". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  4. "Spotlight: the company at centre stage in the battle over WorkChoices". RN Breakfast: Radio National. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 19 September 2007. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  5. Koehn, Emma (7 September 2017). "Australia's top 20 biggest private retailers revealed". SmartCompany. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  6. "An easy sell: Quentin Gracanin". CEO Magazine. 16 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  7. Koehn, Emma (29 March 2018). "Troubled outdoor retailer Mountain Designs bought by Spotlight Group". Smart Company. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  8. Greenblat, Eli (3 March 2020). "Spotlight looks set to salvage Harris Scarfe". The Australian. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  9. "Harris Scarfe sold to Spotlight Group". Business News Australia. 16 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  10. Powell, Dominic (8 March 2021). "'Former glory': Spotlight plans 50 new Harris Scarfe stores in five years". The Age. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  11. "The List: Australia's Richest 250". The Australian. Archived from the original on 2021-04-24. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  12. Bailey, Michael; Sprague, Julie-anne (27 May 2021). "The 200 richest people in Australia revealed". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  13. Bailey, Michael; Sprague, Julie-anne (26 May 2023). "The 200 richest people in Australia revealed". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  14. "Home Page". Spotlight Group Holdings.
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