Myer CEO plans road to redemption
EMBATTLED department store giant Myer has slumped to a full-year net loss of $486 million after sales continued to fall.
Myer’s sales fell 3.2 per cent in the year to July 28, slashing underlying profit by 52 per cent to $32.5 million before $541.2 million in costs and significant items.
Second-half sales were down 2.4 per cent on a samestore basis, which Myer said showed an improvement in performance.
Recently installed Myer chief executive John King, who replaced Richard Umbers after he was ousted in February following a series of profit downgrades, said the profit loss was “disappointing” and “clearly this needs to be better”.
“These results are obviously disappointing and shareholders deserve better,” he said.
Mr King, who admitted Myer had a track record for failing to execute business strategies, outlined a “customer first” plan to increase online sales, decrease the size of the stores and increase the focus on selling products exclusive to the department store.
“It’s about transforming that customer experience in store to make them want to come in, and to give them a reason to come in,” Mr King told investors yesterday.
Online sales rose 34.1 per cent to $192.5 million but represented 7.7 per cent of total sales.
Mr King, the former boss of UK department store House of Fraser, said a new Myer website would be launched this month.