John Winning is out as chief executive of Winning Appliances, with ChannelNews confirming the Ellerston backed board is tipped to appoint former Super Retail Group chief Anthony Heraghty to lead the business through a planned billion dollar sharemarket listing despite him being linked to a recent scandal.

New CEO, new advisers, one billion dollar target

The Winning board has appointed Morgans, Bell Potter and Barrenjoey Capital as advisers on the float, with the retailer targeting a raise of up to one billion dollars. Heraghty, who ran Super Retail Group for six years before being sacked in September 2025 over an undisclosed relationship with the company’s former head of human resources, is the frontrunner for the top job, ChannelNews understands.

John Winning is Out, It’s not known whether the Winning Radio Show will stay

His appointment would mark the first time in more than a century that Winning Appliances has been run by someone from outside the founding Winning family, a move certain to be seen as controversial inside a business built on four generations of family leadership.

Heraghty’s exit from Super Retail Group was messy.

The board terminated him after new information emerged about his relationship with former chief human resources officer Jane Kelly, stripping him of unvested incentive rights in the process.

The saga dragged the ASX listed retailer, which owns Supercheap Auto, Rebel, BCF and Macpac, through a protracted legal fight involving former senior executives who alleged retaliation after raising internal complaints. Despite the fallout, Heraghty remains well regarded by fund managers and is considered a safe pair of hands for a business preparing to face public market scrutiny for the first time.

Winning steps back, Fair Work claims moving to resolution

The leadership change comes as part of the wider Ellerston transaction.

Anthony Heraghty, CEO and group managing director of Super Retail Group

Anthony Heraghty, former CEO and group managing director of Super Retail Group

John Winning, known internally as Herman, is stepping down as group chief executive after the new investors moved quickly to resolve claims lodged with the Fair Work Commission relating to him. Management has been working to contain fallout from internal emails revealed by ChannelNews, which showed Winning declaring himself acting head of human resources and instructing staff that meetings were unnecessary without an external party present.

Expansion push ahead of the float

Rather than retreating, Winning is going on the offensive. ChannelNews understands the business has already secured a site on the Gold Coast, a market it regards as a key growth region for premium appliances, as part of a broader expansion program to be unveiled ahead of the IPO. The move puts Winning on a fresh collision course with Harvey Norman Commercial and the Melbourne based e&s business now owned by JB Hi-Fi.

The numbers behind the float

The IPO push comes despite a sharp deterioration in Winning’s underlying financial performance. After tax profit for the year to June 30, 2025 collapsed 60 per cent to just 1.9 million dollars, down from 4.75 million dollars the previous year, on revenue of approximately 886 million dollars. Underlying EBITDA slipped from 30 million dollars to around 25 million dollars, margins analysts have described as razor thin for a business of this scale chasing a billion dollar valuation.

Ellerston Capital, which manages more than 5 billion dollars in funds and began as steward of the Packer family fortune under chairman Ashok Jacob, invested approximately 100 million dollars into Winning via a convertible note, delivering the firm an estimated 10 to 15 per cent stake in the retailer.
Winning also remains before the Supreme Court of NSW in a case brought by former chief scientist Felipe Ramirez Lastrico, architect of the pricing algorithm behind the Appliances Online business, over the buyback of his shares in the company.

More to come as ChannelNews continues to track the appointment and the lead up to the float.