The Works shareholder Kelso Group has stepped up its boardroom battle with the retailer, questioning chairman Steve Bellamy’s “in-person engagement” with the business amid claims he spends significant time in New Zealand.
The activist investor, which owns 10 per cent of The Works, has called on the retailer to clarify how much time Bellamy spends in the UK and how many of the company’s seven board meetings over the past year he attended in person.
Kelso pointed to a Companies House filing from October 2025 connected to Bellamy’s former role at recruitment firm Empresaria, which listed him as a New Zealand resident.
However, The Works defended its chairman and said Bellamy had attended all of its in-person and online board meetings. The retailer added that Kelso had been aware of the amount of time he spent outside the UK when it backed his appointment as chair in 2024.
The dispute is the latest escalation in a wider clash between The Works and Kelso over the make-up of the retailer’s board.
Kelso is pushing for Graeme Coulthard, a former Charterhouse Capital Partners partner and major shareholder in The Works, to be appointed as a non-executive director at the retailer’s AGM next month.
Coulthard owns eight per cent of The Works, meaning he and Kelso together account for around 18 per cent of the company’s shares.
Kelso said the proposed appointment was a “modest and reasonable request” and argued Coulthard would bring relevant experience in value retail, strategy and capital allocation to the board.
The investor highlighted his previous involvement with Card Factory, where he served on the board following its acquisition by Charterhouse and through its 2014 stock market flotation.
The Works has strongly opposed the appointment and is unanimously recommending shareholders vote against it at its AGM on 7 September.
The retailer said adding Coulthard to its five-person board could create “unnecessary distraction”, upset the balance of independent directors and risk undermining the delivery of its growth strategy.
It also questioned whether Coulthard would add skills currently missing from the board, pointing to what it described as his limited listed-company directorship experience and lack of executive experience running a multi-site value retailer.
Kelso has rejected that assessment and said Coulthard’s experience had been unfairly characterised, arguing his years working with Card Factory and other retail, consumer and leisure businesses were directly relevant to the role.
Shareholders will vote on Coulthard’s proposed appointment at The Works’ AGM on 7 September.
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