Myer Cautious Ahead of Black Friday

Myer’s AGM was held on Thursday this week in Melbourne. It celebrated the successes of FY23, in which the company achieved its best sales in nearly 20 years, totalling $3.36b, NPAT was up 18.2 percent YoY at $71.1m, 109 percent higher than pre-covid results in 2019, and its highest since 2015. Myer notes that going into FY24, it has experienced softer sales but is looking forward to the peak trading season.

The company remains cautious with its peak trading period still to come. CEO John King elaborated, stating, “We remain very cautious of these macro headwinds, especially with interest rate rise this week, and therefore we will continue to retain a strong focus on profitable sales, cash and cost.”

“We are well-placed for the Christmas peak. More importantly the Black Friday peak which, we believe, will be probably even bigger than Christmas. We’ve developed strong plans across the in-store and online to capitalise on both Christmas and Black Friday periods.”

Leading up to the AGM, one of Myer’s biggest shareholder Solomon Lew demanded answers from the company in regards to its leadership shakeups. Over the past year, CEO John King, CFO Nigel Chadwick and chair JoAnne Stephenson have announced their plans to exit the business over the next six months. Chair JoAnne Stephenson addressed this and said while they haven’t found a replacement for King, they were in the process of it.

“The board is well-advanced in the search for a replacement CEO for John King, with interesting candidates both locally and internationally,” she said. ”John has provided extraordinary leadership of the Myer team over the past five years in strengthening the business through the development, refinement and delivery of the Customer First Plan.This has been against a backdrop of, at times, very challenging trading conditions, however, John’s focus on outcomes has been unwavering.”

Following the AGM, director Ari Mervis has taken over as chairman, and the CFO role will be handed over to deputy CFO Matt Jackman when Chadwick departs next year. 

“Being Chairman of Myer has been a privilege and I thank all shareholders, as well as customers, team members and brand partners, for the trust they have placed in me during my time on the Board,” said departing Chairman Stephenson. “It has been particularly rewarding to see the business stabilised and strengthened and focusing again on what is at the heart of the Myer brand – delivering every day for our customers. I look forward to watching the Company continuing the positive momentum over the coming years.”