Myer whose shares are down nearly 40% since the start of the year, has just released interim results for the 26 weeks ending January 25, 2025, which shows its profit tanking significantly over that period.
It posted a nearly 40% decrease in its half-year net profit to $30.4 million, while sales were up just 0.1 to $1.83 billion.
“We have been focused on resetting the business and positioning the Myer Group as a retail powerhouse,” said Olivia Wirth, Myer’s Executive Chair.
Earnings before interest and tax dropped to $85.1 million from $117.5 million a year earlier, with additional costs due to complications at its distribution centre at Ravenhall, Victoria.
Myer’s National Distribution Centre (NDC) in Ravenhall went live in August last year, with the aim of adding scale and lowering the cost of fulfilment of online orders. But that centre has, according to Myer, been hit with “implementation issues and delayed ramp-up” that have created stock-flow issues and cost around $12 million in lost earnings.
The company said profit before accounting for impairments and restructure charges was down nearly 195% to $42.4 million.
Myer’s loyalty programme has 4.6 million active customers, up 6%, and 79.1% of total sales generated by the Myer One program.
Its same store sales for the first half rose 0.8%, while group online sales were up 4.8% to $409 million.
With Myer’s recent combination with Premier Investment’s Apparel Brands receiving the greenlight from shareholders recently, there will be an intense focus on Myer’s performance in the second half of 2025.
The Apparel Brands deal landed the Myer portfolio brands such as Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Dotti and Jacqui E brands, with a total group footprint now of 783 department and specialty stores, supported by a workforce of more than 17,000.
“We have concluded our strategic review and started to implement our Myer Group Growth Strategy with the acquisition of Apparel Brands, established our new leadership team and capabilities, arranged refinancing and commenced a restructure of sass & bide, Marcs and David Lawrence,” added Wirth.
Myer’s massive executive shakeup, which ChannelNews reported about here, includes a new chief financial officer by way of Kathy Karabatsas, alongside a new chief supply chain officer in Darren Wedding , who joins Myer after a stint at Super Retail. Dean Simpson, who ran British retailer Marks & Spencer’s store renewal programme, is also reported to be joining Myer as general manager of store renewal.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley have been upbeat about Myer’s performance under a new strategy. The analysts told their clients last week that Myer’s share price could more than double and hit $1.70 under a best-case scenario. They suggested that for this to happen, lower interest rates and tax cuts must also prompt shoppers to spend more.
