DavidsTea says chief executive officer Sylvain Toutant is leaving the Montreal-based company to pursue other interests.
Toutant said the decision to leave the specialty retailer was difficult to make, but the right one from a personal standpoint.
The joint statement from him and DavidsTea didn’t disclose Toutant’s specific plans.
As chief executive officer, Toutant played a key role in the company’s 2015 initial public offering, which marked the beginning of a significant growth phase in the United States.
At the time, DavidsTea said it planned to open between 30 and 40 stores a year in the United States to reach about 300.
DavidsTea had a total of 208 stores in Canada and the United States as of July 30, at the end of the second quarter of its 2016-17 financial year.
For the first half of the current financial year, sales were $85.5 million — up 25% from a year earlier — and the company was close to break-even. In the first half of last financial year, it had a $145.3-million loss due to IPO costs.
The company said Toutant would stay with the company until the end of the current fiscal year, ending in January.
