The Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX: MYR) share price is pushing higher on Thursday.
In morning trade, the department store operator's shares are up 1.5% to 64 cents.
This follows the release of the retailer's FY 2023 results.
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Myer share price higher on FY 2023 results
- Total sales up 12.5% to $3,362.9 million
- Comparable sales up 3.3%
- Online sales down 4.5% to $690.5 million
- Cost of doing business up 10.6% to $824.1 million
- Earnings before interest and tax up 6.5% to $196.2 million
- Net profit after tax up 18.2% to $71.1 million
- Final dividend of 1 cent per share
What happened during the financial year?
For the 12 months ended 29 July, Myer reported a 12.5% increase in sales to $3,362.9 million. This was driven by a strong first-half performance, with the company's second-half sales coming in relatively flat following a deterioration of trading conditions in the fourth quarter as macroeconomic factors impacted consumer demand.
Myer's online sales pulled back during the 12 months. However, this was due to the company cycling mandatory store closures in the prior corresponding period. Online sales have grown by a compound annual growth rate of 27.4% since FY 2019 and now account for 20.5% of total sales.
On the bottom line, Myer reported an 18.2% increase in net profit after tax to $71.1 million. This was the retailer's largest profit since back in FY 2015.
This allowed the company to pay a fully franked final dividend of 1 cent per share. This brings its FY 2023 dividends to 9 cents per share (including 4 cents per share interim and special dividends paid earlier this year), which is up 125% year on year.
Management commentary
Myer's CEO, John King, was pleased with the company's performance in FY 2023. Though, he acknowledges that Myer had a tough finish to the year. He said:
In line with our trading update issued on 8 August 2023, we are pleased with the strength and quality of our Full Year result, which despite a softer trading outcome in Q4 as a result of current economic conditions, not only delivered our best full year sales result since 2005, but also showed continued profitability and a strong balance sheet providing a solid foundation to deliver our future plans and growth opportunities under our successful Customer First Plan.
Our multi-channel offer is a key strength of these results as we capitalised on customers returning to stores after closures in the prior year, underpinned by our leading customer loyalty proposition in MYER one. Our online offer is a scale business that returned to growth in the second half and has continued to increase market share throughout FY23.
Outlook
Potentially holding back the Myer share price a touch this morning has been the company's trading update.
For the first six weeks of FY 2024, department store comparable sales are down 1.9% over the prior corresponding period. John King said:
Like all retailers, we continue to remain cautious about the macroeconomic environment, however, we are pleased with our strong results at the Half and the Full Year, and have a strong program of deliverables to roll out in FY24 as part of our Customer First Plan.
