Boulder-based natural foods retailer Wild Oats Markets said in a filing today that its board of directors will not renew its employment contract with chief executive Perry Odak when it expires next March.
Odak’s five-year contract with the company expired last March, and he was on a year-to-year renewal, said Wild Oats spokeswoman Sonja Tuitele. She said the board had announced its intentions to work on a longer-term contract with Odak, but was unable to reach an agreement.
She declined to specify the circumstances of the negotiations. Odak was traveling and unavailable to comment, she said.
Although the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission indicated that Odak’s contract will expire March 19, 2007, Tuitele stopped short of saying Odak will definitely leave the company at that time.
“He could very well continue operating as the CEO without a contract,” she said.
Odak, former chief executive of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc. was brought in to replace company founder Mike Gilliland, following a year of declining sales. Viewed as a fix-it-and-go corporate turnaround artist, he had previously steered a dozen companies out of trouble.
In its most recent quarter, Wild Oats reported earnings of of $4.9 million, or 16 cents per share, compared with $922,000, or 3 cents per share, a year ago. The company beat analysts’ estimates of 10 cents per share.
Nonetheless, analysts have expressed concern that the company remains vulnerable to competition from natural food giant Whole Foods and from traditional grocers like Safeway who are boosting their natural and organic offerings.
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-954-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
