John Hardy has returned to vacuum retailer Godfreys as interim CEO, effective immediately.

Hardy replaces Jason Gowie, who resigned as CEO and executive director on 25 May after less than six months in the role.

The company has also appointed former COO of Munro Footwear Group David Lee as CFO, following the resignation of Andrew Ford.

Hardy was previously Godfreys CEO from 1983 to 2010 and again from mid-2016 to December 2017.

Godfreys chairman Nick Stretch said Hardy’s appointment would provide stability to the organisation as it completed the transition to ownership by Arcade Finance, owned by Godfreys’ 99-year old co-founder John Johnston and his family.

Arcade Finance announced earlier this month it had acquired a relevant interest of 65 per cent of Godfreys shares, giving it a controlling interest in the vacuum cleaner retailer.

Its takeover offer, which was increased to 33.5 cents per share, is now unconditional. Following the announcement, Ford along with board members Brendan Fleiter; Penny Burke; Kathy Gramp and Sue Morphet resigned from their positions.

Grant Hancock, who is a director of Arcade Finance, has been appointed director of the Godfreys board.

Nicholas Stretch from Dentons Corporate Group has been appointed as an independent non-executive director and chairman of the company’s board, effective Thursday 24 May 2018.

Arcade plans to de-list Godfreys from the ASX and to operate it as a private company.

Godfreys announced last month like-for-like sales dropped 27 per cent compared to the same time last year, with year to date like-for-like sales also down 7.8 per cent compared to last year.