Department store Myer has reported a 3 per cent lift in group sales for the first 19 weeks of FY26.
Myer Group’s executive chair Olivia Wirth confirmed the news at its AGM today, with Myer Retail (excluding Just Jeans, Jay Jays etc) driving the total sales boom with a 3.4 per cent lift.
The Apparel Brands – Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Jacqui E, Dotti and Portmans – also reported a sales lift of 1.3 per cent, with Wirth saying Just Jeans itself drove the subsidiary with a mid-single-digit sales growth year-to-date.
“Looking across our categories, we have achieved double-digit sales growth in homewares, womenswear and concessions,” Wirth said of Myer Retail.
“We are particularly pleased with the performance of our Myer Exclusive Brands in the homeware and womenswear categories, supporting the delivery of increased sales."
The department store’s online portal grew the strongest, up in the high single-digits percentage-wise.
“Pleasingly, we also had a strong lead up to Black Friday for Myer Retail, achieving our biggest Black Friday sales performance on record, driven by our homeware and womenswear categories,” Wirth said.
“We are in a very important sales period with seven weeks in the peak period trading still to go, which includes the lead-up to Christmas and Boxing Day sales.”
Wirth also noted that in FY26, the group’s cost of doing business as a percentage of sales is approximately at 29 per cent. For FY25, this was at 27.9 per cent, with that up from 25.6 per cent in FY24.
“CODB is a significant focus for the management team and we remain on track to meet this target in the full year.”
Meanwhile, Solomon Lew’s expected entry has been confirmed for April 2026, after the transitional services in relation to the finance function for the Apparel Brands acquisition are completed, and after the first half results by Myer Group.
This came as the Lew Group became Myer’s largest shareholder, and was a key part of the merger deal that saw Myer take on the Apparel Brands that were formerly under Lew’s Premier Investments.
“Sol, as Myer’s largest shareholder and soon to be director, thank you for joining the meeting today and we look forward to you making a positive contribution to the group in due course,” Wirth said.