Myer’s CEO and Managing Director John King is predicting that its solid performance in the new financial year will continue on through Christmas, despite inflation, and multiple interest rate rises.
This comes after the company released its full-year financials yesterday, showing revenue of $2.989 billion, a 12.5 per cent jump, with profits up 16.5 per cent to $60.2 million.
Myer posted its best second-half profits since 2013, and rolled this into its best six-week sales start to a new financial year since 2006.
Department store sales jumped 74.8 per cent in the first six weeks of FY22, although this is in comparison to the July 2021 lockdown period. Sales are up a healthy 21.8 per cent against pre-pandemic levels.
King noted that the pandemic has boosted homewares sales, with fragrances and menswear sales also rising.
“I think the pandemic has probably created the highest number of home cooks that we’ve ever seen,” King told the AFR.
“We will see occasion-wear probably come back a little bit this year with the races open and Spring Carnival and weddings.”
King expects this to carry through to Christmas, although expressed concern about continued rates rises from the Reserve Bank.
“We are concerned about what may happen to the consumer, but we built a business that’s got agility and flexibility because we’re not reliant on one type of product or, or one type of category,” he said.
“We’re able to flex the business according to what the customer is doing. We’re cautious, but we’re confident that what we’re offering the consumer is a great value proposition.”
