Some were tipping that Premier Investments a major shareholder in Myer would own the big Melbourne headquartered retailer by now, however a turnaround of Myers performance could be a problem for Premier’s ambitions after they hired the former Group CEO of JB Hi Fi Richard Murray.

Not only is Myer in a better cash position they are also tipping a major lift in profits as consumer go back to instore trading.

According to an update delivered today, Myer is on track to report its strongest net profit since 2017, with its online platform driving strong sales growth and its cash on hand swelling to more than $155m.

The group released a trading update to the market, revealing that it expected its annual net profit to be between $55m and $60m the best since 2017.

The latest profit forecast is an increase of between 86 per cent and 103%, it’s also based on JobKeeper payments being excluded from the prior year which included a $22M after tax contribution.

Myer said its second half profit for the 26 weeks to July 30 would be between $23m and $28m, up between 160% and 217% from $8.8m over the 27 weeks to July 31, 2021.

Myer management said that they expect to finish 2022 in a positive net cash position of more than $155m, compared to $112m at the end of 2021.

The department store, which has been struggling for years and which is also under siege from major investor and billionaire Solomon Lew and Premier Investments claims that they are currently hold 9.6% higher stock levels than last year.

Clearance inventory continues to be well managed, it added, at 6.2 per cent of current department store stock on hand.

Myer chief executive John King said execution of the Customer First Plan continues to deliver positive outcomes for the business with all categories achieving sales growth over 2021, despite more trading days lost due to Covid-19 this year.

“The momentum in the second half in terms of sales growth both in-store and online, profitability and strengthening of our balance sheet places us well as we go into the new financial year.”

Myer will release its 2022 financial results in September.