While Myer continues to feel the financial pinch it aims to continue to roll out its five-point strategic plan, which it hopes will better position the company for the future.
In its full year results for 2012, the department store giant has reported a net profit of $139.3 million – a 14.3 per cent slide from last year’s results.
Chief executive Bernie Brookes believes the company has delivered solid results given the subdued consumer confidence, particularly given that they finished the year with three months of positive comparable store sales growth.
“The highlight of this year’s result is the strong gross profit performance reflecting a number of key achievements. We delivered on the objectives of growing our Myer Exclusive Brands to 19 per cent of sales, further reducing our shrinkage and markdowns, and improving our sourcing,” he said.
“The progress we made in implementing our five-point strategic plan clearly supported the profitability of the business and helped to offset ongoing cost headwinds.”
One key part of the five-point strategic plan that was emphasised in the full year report is the company’s customer service offering.
“Improving customer service remains a focus for the business, and customer and team member feedback has been very encouraging. All our team members are to be commended for their commitment during a challenging year,” Brookes said.
“We will continue to refine our customer service and efficiency initiatives throughout 2013, to ensure we deliver an inspiring customer solution. We continue to believe service and the right merchandise mix are the key differentiators in an environment of increasing online competition.”
Its key categories of Womenswear, Miss Shop (Youth), Menswear and Cosmetics all performed ahead of last year in sales and gross profit. Meanwhile, sales in Myer Exclusive Brands grew by 5.5 per cent to $586 million during the year.
Despite ongoing significant price deflation, particularly in TVs, Myer achieved sales growth in a number of Electrical businesses, including Appliances and Home Office. The exit of white goods and gaming and consoles and the rationalisation of music and DVDs and GPS navigation systems, impacted sales by $31 million during the financial year.
Looking forward, Myer said it still anticipates there’ll be continued costs during the 2013 financial year, which will be offset by further improvement in gross profit margin.
The outlook is also uncertain due to a continued tough retailing environment and subdued consumer confidence. Therefore the company does not intend to provide sales or profit guidance to the market for the 2013 financial year.