The CEO of Woolworths Holdings has pinpointed the purchase of David Jones as the moment the company veered off course.

Roy Bagattini told Bloomberg that the South African company’s A$2.1 billion purchase of the department store giant in 2014 was misguided.

“It’s increasingly difficult to create a so-called regional player with a level of impact and scale that can really materially shift your performance,” Bagattini told Bloomberg.

“Businesses are increasingly required to be locally relevant. You can’t be all things to everybody.”

The David Jones purchase was made under former CEO Ian Moir, who openly voiced his regret in 2019.

“They were right,” Moir said of those who advised against the sale. “I regret the price, and buying it at that time — hindsight is a wonderful thing — but I think we have a great asset now.”

David Jones had a tough run of late.

The department store had five CEOs in the last six years, and endured three years of straight losses, which only ended in 2021 thanks to a 70.4 million JobKeeper handout.

It embarked upon an ill-fated dual-branding exercise with BP service stations, closed the majority of its loss-making food halls, and trimmed overall floor space by 7 per cent.

The company also “disposed of” the flagship Sydney CBD Elizabeth St building (below) for $510 million, and the Bourke St building in the Melbourne CBD for $121 million.

These cost cutting exercises cleared the way for a sale. Although Bagattini refused to confirm that Woolworths is planning to offload David Jones when speaking to Bloomberg, he was clearer about the company’s intentions during his annual general report.

“David Jones is now debt free, self-funding, and has a clear roadmap to improving profitability, and as such, we are in a favourable position to explore all future options in respect of this business, and how best to further unlock value for the group and our shareholders,” Bagattini wrote.

“Having successfully executed against our balance sheet and income statement priorities, we are now evaluating all possible ­options to unlocking value for Woolworths Holdings and its shareholders.”