Olivia Wirth reveals rescue plan for 124yo department store Myer as it posts profit slump

Myer’s new executive chair Olivia Wirth has unveiled her rescue plan for the 124-year old department store to return it back to sustainable growth after posting a near-30 per cent slump in full-year profit.

Along with the company’s full-year results, Ms Wirth on Friday revealed her “Myer tomorrow” plans would include strong cost control and unlocking the full potential of its Myer One loyalty program.

It also aims to broaden appeal across its brands to attract new and younger customers.

“It’s all about orientation for growth and what Myer’s full potential can be over the next five to seven years,” the former Qantas loyalty boss told The Nightly.

“These are just some initial observations on Myer as a business, with a real intent to make sure that we can deliver sustainable growth for Myer One, for our shareholders and also, increasingly, a great customer experience.”

Myer will also continue its investment in cracking down on in-store theft, with body camera trials under way and the implementation of new Myer-managed security guards.

The department store revealed net profit before restructuring and impairments fell 26 per cent to $52.6 million, with sales down 2.9 per cent to $3.23 billion in the year to July 27.

This was in-line with Myer’s guidance provided early last month.

Myer at the time flagged the slip in sales would be due to the closures of the Brisbane City, Frankston and Werribee stores.

Meanwhile, the underperformance of Myer-owned labels Sass & Bide, Marc and David Lawrence — which were put up for sale earlier this year but ultimately retained — represented about half of the year-on-year decline in profit.

Ms Wirth told investors earlier on Friday that it wasn’t seeing “any significant changes in the macroeconomic outlook”, pointing to Myer’s trading update for the first seven weeks of fiscal 2025, with comparable sales only up 0.2 per cent versus the corresponding period in the prior year.

“Trading is tough so we’re cautious but we are very much poised to make sure that if there is upside, that Myer is there to be able to capture it,” she said.

“We’re very focused on Q2, that’s a key trade period for any retailer . . . with Black Friday, with Christmas, Boxing Day.

“The team are really focused on making sure that we can trade as well as possible and to make sure that we’ve got products that our customers want.”

Myer revealed it had the strongest engagement with Myer One since its inception in 2004. It currently has 10.4 million members and grew by 706,000 in the 2024 financial year.

Ms Wirth said discussions with Solomon Lew’s Premier Investments for a potential tie-up were “progressing and due diligence is under way”.

The potential deal proposed by Myer in June would see the department store buy Premier’s apparel brands business, which owns labels Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Jacqui E and Dotti.

Premier Investments will release its 2024 financial year results next Wednesday.

Myer declared a fully franked dividend of 0.5¢, bringing the full-year total to 3.5¢ per share.