Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Myer Full Year Results 2023 Conference Call. All participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. John King, CEO. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Melanie. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining the call today, to investors and analysts, and also to media, who joined on a listen-only basis. I'm John King, CEO of Myer. I'm joined here today by Nigel Chadwick, Myer's Chief Financial Officer. Please note, this call is being recorded. Before going any further, I'd like to take a moment to recognize the various traditional lands on which we do our business today, as well as acknowledging elders, past, present, and emerging. Excuse me. So the agenda for today, I'll begin with an overview of the financial year 2023 results, then I'll hand over to Nigel, who will provide you more details on these financials. Then I'll speak further on our Customer First plan, which is the strategy we outlined in September 2018, and underpins everything that we do here.
After that, there'll be an opportunity to ask questions. Moving to slide four, let me take you through some of the key financial highlights. I'm pleased with the strength and the quality of our full-year results, which despite a softer trading outcome in Q4, as a result of current economic conditions, shows continued profitability and a strong balance sheet, which provides a solid foundation to deliver our future plans and growth opportunities. As to the key points on this slide, firstly, our sales growth has been very strong, up 12.5%, representing AUD 3.36 billion in sales, our highest since 2005, and despite the macroeconomic impacts in Q4. We have a powerful multi-channel offer, which remains strong and a key point of difference.
We have a strong online offer, which now represents over 20% of total sales, and provides our customers with choice in how they want to shop with Myer. We also saw a return to growth for online in the second half of 3.2% year-on-year, as we flowed through the impacts of store closures and the pandemic throughout FY 2022. Most importantly, this sales growth has translated to an even higher profit growth, with NPAT up 18.2% on FY 2022, at AUD 71.1 million, demonstrating our unrelenting focus on profitable sales. Importantly, we continue to have a strong balance sheet, with AUD 120 million in net cash, and with inventory holding flat year-on-year.
Finally, we are pleased to announce that we have declared a final fully franked dividend of AUD 0.01 per share, bringing the total dividend declared for financial year 2023 to AUD 0.09 per share. During FY 2023, we distributed AUD 86 million of dividends to our shareholders, which demonstrates the confidence in the plan and the MYER business, and marks the biggest cash return to shareholders since financial year 2014. Moving to Slide 5. You can see from the first chart that group sales are up 12.5% since FY 2022, up since FY 2019. This growth has been driven by the strength of our multi-channel offer, as customers have returned to stores after closure in the first quarter of FY 2022, and bolstered by our leading brand and loyalty proposition through MYER ONE.
There has also been a strong return to physical retail with CBD stores, up over 14% on a comp store basis, and they are continuing to gain momentum. As mentioned, online is continuing to scale and has returned to growth in the second half, now sitting at nearly 21% of total sales at AUD 691 million. Importantly, our MYER ONE program continues to differentiate, representing nearly 75% of total sales. I've mentioned this at previous updates, but it is important to restate. Our merchandise offer has aggressively expanded into core brands and ranges that customers desire, and also contributing to the strong results we have seen. So now to slide 6. It is clear online continues to be a strength of our business, delivering considerable scale and growth, up 163% since FY 2019, and in FY 2023 alone, delivered significant online market share growth.
It is not just about shopping online. The bottom line is that consumers want to shop across multiple channels. They want to come to our stores, and they want to buy from us online, and they want the experiences offered in store, and they want the ability to choose. Our multi-channel offer has allowed us the ability to capture the opportunities that pure plays simply cannot. With strong growth in our stores, a return to CBD growth, and a robust online business, providing synergies in both digital and physical environments. We know from looking at our data, that our multi-channel customer is more valuable. They spend more per customer, they are shopping more frequently, and more engaged with our brand than our single channel customers. The ability to have online and in-store is complementary.
It's our biggest shop window, with 59% of all customers visiting our website before they come in store. And vice versa, almost 25% visit in-store before they make an online purchase. We also have an increasing number of customers electing to Click and Collect their online purchase. This is a great point of difference that we have as a multi-channel retailer, and is a major focus of our Customer First plan. So now on to slide seven, MYER ONE loyalty program. The program is continuing to deliver strong growth across all metrics, hitting our highest numbers since public listing in 2009. The program now stands at over 7.3 million digitally contactable customers, up 10% year-on-year, which demonstrates the work we've been doing to build engagement and acquisition.
There have been 720,000 new MYER ONE members in FY 2023, up 21.4% year-on-year, making it one of Australia's largest retail loyalty programs. Pleasingly, we are continuing to see a significant shift to a younger demographic, engaging with and using the MYER ONE program. Importantly, one of the key areas when we assess the power of our loyalty program is not the top line number, but the number of customers who are engaged with us, active members, meaning those who have spent in the last 12 months. This represents 4.2 million unique active customers, up 13.5% year-on-year. The role of First Party Data is incredibly important in today's marketplace, and we have reaped the benefits from our MYER ONE program.
As I said before, nearly 75% of all MYER purchases using a MYER ONE card, up 330 basis points year-on-year. We continue to add enhanced analytics capability and AI and machine learning models, which are driving greater CRM benefits and providing a very strong platform for personalization. We also have new and expanding partnerships with Amex, Virgin, and CommBank, driving significant customer growth and revenue opportunities. And we know that access to points, especially in the current economic environment, is increasingly important to customers. MYER ONE will continue to underpin growth for our business as we leverage better insights to inform our business decisions, deliver greater insight and support for our partners, providing a strong and actionable database to commercialize further and deepen the connection with our most loyal MYER ONE customers. So now to Slide 8, I'd like to talk about merchandise.
We continue to deepen the relationships with our key brand partners, which secures greater investment from brands, exclusive products, and Myer-only ranges. As an example, our top 20 brands across the company in FY 2023 have seen a 35% increase in sales since FY 2019, almost 3x greater than total sales growth. You will see from the charts that we have a balanced merchandise model across all key categories, less reliant on seasonal fashion categories, which improves resilience in uncertain times and the ability to flex and pivot based on changing customer demand. This focus on rebalancing our merchandise offer has seen a greater focus on core ranges, with a 26% reduction in options since FY 2019, providing greater opportunity for brand depth when required and space for the introduction of new brand propositions.
In FY 2023, we did just that, delivering significant new brands of scale that resonate with our customer. Most recently demonstrated with the Country Road Group, brands coming back to Myer, already proving very popular with our customers, but also the reintroduction of brands like Bendon and the introduction of exclusive brands like American Eagle. Equally, we remain disciplined in our inventory management. For FY 2023, we remained flat despite the volatility of the year, and we have a significantly lower level of age stock versus FY 2019, allowing our customers greater ability to shop into newness. Slide 9, our core metrics, all underpinned by our Customer First plan.
This plan has yielded significant improvements to all aspects of the Myer business, allowing us to come out of the pandemic in a much stronger position, and the output of that progress is tangible improvement in some of the key metrics shown on this page. Our online business continues to go from strength to strength, AUD 691 million in FY 2023 versus AUD 262 million in FY 2019. We continue to strategically reduce floor space where it makes sense and have reduced space by 12.8% since FY 2019. We've undertaken a complete rework of our merchandise strategy, with these improvements paying significant dividends, both in terms of customer trust, brand engagement, and financially. Through a significant reduction in clearance and aged inventory since FY 2019, we have had a 640 basis point decrease in the percentage of clearance inventory.
Customer satisfaction has moved from 73% in FY 2019, up to 83% in FY 2023. We are right sizing our cost base with CODB. As a percentage, we are 265 basis points lower than FY 2019 on a pre-AASB 16 basis. The net cash position is AUD 120 million, a significant improvement from AUD 39 million of net debt in FY 2019, and we've given ourselves balance sheet flexibility to continue paying a dividend. Over the last five years, the Customer First plan has yielded significant improvements to our business, including making it a far more resilient and balanced business, which now sits as Australia's eighth most trusted brand, according to Roy Morgan. Now I'd like to hand over to Nigel, who'll go over the financial results in more detail.
Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. I think overall, considering the increasingly challenging trading conditions in the second half, this is a solid result and reflects the resilience we've built within the company under the Customer First plan. So we can now turn to Slide 11. Our total sales for the year were up 12.5% to AUD 3.36 billion, which was largely off the back of a strong first half, which was up 24% against the COVID-impacted 1H 2022. Followed by a challenging second half, where total sales were up marginally by 0.4%. In terms of comparable sales, which excludes periods where stores are closed or under refurbishment from both years, sales were up 3.3%.
Sales growth resulted in operating gross profit growth of just under 7%, and we'll discuss that in a bit more detail in a couple of slides. Cost of doing business increased 10.6%, mainly reflecting inflationary pressures and also higher year-on-year costs in the first quarter due to COVID related store closures and rent waivers received in the prior year. That brings us to EBITDA, which was flat at AUD 400 million for the year, on a post AASB 16 basis, or AUD 187.1 million on a pre-AASB 16 basis. Both figures quoted before implementation costs and individually significant items or ISIs. From a store performance perspective, on a pre-AASB 16 basis, we had just 1 store that was EBITDA negative, and two stores that were EBIT negative, and obviously, we have plans in place to improve their performance going forward.
Depreciation was down slightly, reflecting lower net CapEx spend in recent quarter years, and some assets becoming fully depreciated. Also a small net reduction related to the lease portfolio, largely due to space handbacks and lease exits. Interestingly, if we compare this year's EBIT against pre-COVID FY 2019, on a pre-AASB 16 basis, it is up 88%. Net finance costs were down AUD 7 million, reflecting lower interest from the lease portfolio, and lower net interests on cash and debt balances, and the write-off of capitalized borrowing costs related to our old facility in the prior year. The bottom line was a net profit after tax, but before implementation costs and ISIs of AUD 71.1 million, which is the best underlying NPAT since 2015, and compares to AUD 60.2 million last year.
Given the first half NPAT, before implementation costs and ISIs, was AUD 65 million, this means the second half delivered AUD 6 million, reflecting the deteriorating trading conditions in the last quarter. Having said that, if I set aside last year's stellar second half, it is still the second best second half since 2016. Implementation costs and ISIs were mainly related to exit costs, associated residual asset write-offs, and redundancies in relation to Brisbane and changes to our distribution center network in Victoria and Queensland. Statutory profit after tax was AUD 60.4 million, compared to AUD 49 million last year, an improvement of 23.3%.
On the right of the slide, you can see our mix between private label, national brands, and concessions, reflecting the small shift in the current period to concessions from national brands as CBD stores recovered following COVID, and we saw strong performance from key brand partners in apparel and footwear categories. Moving to slide 12, operating gross profit. As you can see from this slide, OGP finished the year up AUD 80 million or nearly 7%, and OGP margin at 36.4%, with a second half margin of 36.6%, slightly better than what was recorded at the half year of 36.2. As you can see, the higher sales volumes contributed AUD 147 million improvement, reflecting the higher sales revenue for the year.
Rate deteriorated as we took higher discounts on some excess homewares inventory and higher promotional activity, reflecting the tightening market conditions and increased competition, which was offset in part from higher deal collect from suppliers contributing to promotional campaigns. Shrinkage continued to be problematic, and increased by nearly AUD 16 million to AUD 47 million for the year. Shrinkage now stands at 1.8% of wholesale sales, compared to 1.3% last year, and having been driven down to the low 0.9% just 3 years ago. As we mentioned at the half year, we're investing in this area to drive this back down, and pleasingly, in dollar terms at least, the trend appears to have started to improve in the second half of the year as some of these initiatives take hold.
FX has negatively impacted our year-on-year results by approximately AUD 13 million, as USD purchases this year were made at 0.70, versus last year at 0.74.... Lastly, we also had a negative movement in margin rate from the mix shift concessions. Moving to slide 13 and CODB. On the left of the slide, you can see that while CODB has increased in total dollar terms, our CODB as a percentage of total sales has continued to decline, and now stands at 24.5% on a post-AASB 16 basis. But to give you a sense of progression on a pre-AASB 16 basis, our CODB to sales ratio has dropped from 33.5% in FY 2019, to 30.8% in FY 2023. CODB has increased 10.6% over the prior year.
However, as I previously mentioned, the prior year included some COVID disruption in the first quarter, and also the tail end of rent waivers. In the waterfall chart on the right, you can see our estimate of the impact of those on CODB was approximately AUD 26 million. So once normalized for those impacts, the net growth in CODB drops to 6.9%, which is in line with OGP growth. As you can see from the waterfall, the principal areas of increase were inflation, mainly in the form of higher wages, both in store under our EBA and in the support office, and property outgoings, rents and taxes, higher IT costs on license fees, and additional investment in our merchandise capabilities, and some expenditure that can't be capitalized to commission the NDC.
Variable costs in our online business reduced in line with the reduction in sales volume, and inflationary impacts were offset by efficiency gains in delivery costs. We also incurred higher store project OpEx from introduction of new brands and movement of product adjacencies, and OpEx elements of store upgrades, including costs associated with the new store POS we've been deploying and investment in loss prevention. Moving to cash flow on slide 14. As you can see from this slide, we've had a very strong cash flow performance during the year, with operating cash flows before interest and tax up slightly to AUD 389 million, with conversion remaining just under 100%.
Further down the cash flow statement, you can see a significant increase in tax paid, which reflects that AUD 28 million of FY 2022 income tax was actually paid during FY 2023, due to the timing of tax installments coming out of COVID. The tax installments paid relating to the current year were AUD 26 million. Going forward, we don't expect to have two years' worth of tax paid in a single accounting period. As we signaled a year ago, cash CapEx, net of landlord contributions, was up from the prior year to AUD 74 million, with the bulk going into our store network, supported by contributions from landlords.
As well as refurbishments, we've been deploying new back of house technology to enable quicker fulfillment and stock data processes, and also deployed new point of sale hardware to mitigate the risk of POS failure and improve the customer experience through much quicker processing. We've also continued to invest in our online platforms and our NDC, which is now in operational testing and expected to be live in the first half of calendar 2024. We expect CapEx to continue to increase in FY 2024, to something in the range of AUD 65-85 million, net of landlord contributions, as we continue to invest in the store network to further improve the customer experience and update some of our older infrastructure, continue to improve our online presence, complete the rollout of the software component of the new POS system, and fit out a new distribution center in Queensland.
Moving to the balance sheet on slide 15. The total inventory at year-end was flat year-over-year, and while the percentage of department store clearance inventory is up slightly on last year, it still remains relatively low to historical levels. And about half the clearance units at year-end have now been sold through, with department store clearance inventory currently sitting at 6% of stock on hand. In addition, inventory over six months old continues to be healthy, and is predominantly in non-seasonal staples that are less sensitive to age. Right-of-use assets were down by nearly AUD 76 million, mainly as a result of depreciation, but offset by new leases at stores like Marion, Tea Tree Plaza, and Toowoomba. Fixed assets are up, reflecting the investment in stores. Finally, net cash.
Again, we finished the year in a positive net cash position of AUD 120 million, which is down AUD 66 million from last year-end, and I'll talk a bit more about that on the next slide. So turning to Slide 16, cash and liquidity. On this slide, you can see the progression from a net debt position in FY 2019, to our current net cash position of AUD 120 million in FY 2023. Here we have a fully drawn component of our debt facility of AUD 65 million, less capitalized borrowing costs of AUD 5 million. That means we have cash on hand of AUD 180 million at year-end. In terms of net cash, as I mentioned, it is AUD 66 million down year-over-year, but as we saw on the cash flow statement earlier, there are three principal reasons for this.
First, we paid out AUD 86 million in dividends during the year, being last year's final dividend and this year's interim. Of which—which, of course, included a special dividend of about AUD 32 million. Secondly, as we signaled a year ago, we've recommenced our investment program and have spent AUD 74 million of landlord contributions this year, which is AUD 13 million more than last year. Lastly, as I mentioned earlier, our tax paid this year of AUD 54.5 million far exceeds last year's AUD 16.4 million, and is abnormally high, as it includes two years of tax payments following COVID. In the bottom chart, you can see where our net cash position has been across this year and last. We've been net cash positive for the entire year, except for one business day in June, following the dividend payment of AUD 66 million.
Peak net cash was nearly AUD 400 million in December 2022, and last year we were only in a small net debt position for a total of about 17 business days. So across the last two years, we've only had net debt for a total of less than 20 business days. And our current expectation is that we'll go through this year's peak financing requirement in November, in a modest net debt position for about a week, as we pay creditors for our Black Friday and Christmas inventory. Clearly, we have significant liquidity, both on balance sheet and within headroom in our existing ABL facility, which still has over two years to run and continues to support the business well.
The balance sheet continues to be rock solid and has been so for a number of years now, and this underpins both the gradual increase in reinvestment in the business and continuing franked dividend payments. So before I hand back to John, to summarize all of that, clearly, as you've heard from many retailers, the year was a tale of two halves. The first half buoyed by the exit from COVID and the constraints that went with that. The second half, challenged by the economic environment, including multiple interest rate rises and inflationary pressures affecting household disposable income. Our balance sheet and liquidity is rock solid and underpins our future reinvestment, and our ability to pay franked dividends.
We are continuing to invest in the key aspects of the Customer First plan, including growing our online business, further improving our in-store customer experience, and strengthening both our fulfillment and store networks. And finally, our unrelenting focus on costs, cash, and balance sheet, will continue to be top priorities. We're well positioned to take advantage of the peak Christmas trading period. On that note, I'll pass it back to John.
Thank you, Nigel. Just like to touch on the value creation that we've seen from the Customer First plan and how it continues to evolve. As you know, the first part, the Customer First plan was introduced in FY 2019, and has continued to deliver strong momentum in FY 2023, including the acceleration of our online, which is now building scale and leveraging our multi-channel offer. Our factory to customer, we've introduced our new NDC, National Distribution Centre, in financial year 2024. Operational testing is underway. The NDC will provide us with significant benefits to supply chain, online fulfillment, and more importantly, our customers. The in-store experience, we're continuing to invest and increase our investment in store layout and technology solutions to deliver improved customer experience.
Our focus on merchandise, we have a healthy inventory profile, improved stock turn, making the big brands bigger and turbocharging key categories, but also the introduction of new brands, as we mentioned, like Country Road, to further future strengthen our proposition. As always, we will focus on delivery and reduction in space, and improve productivity of that floor space. We will build on this through our key strengths, ensuring a strong value proposition through our MYER ONE program, with even greater rewards, ensuring customers choose Myer over competitors. And finally, the strengthening of our balance sheet allows continued investment and the execution of our plan, which all team members remain completely focused on. The delivery of this program will continue to underpin the future growth of this business and allow us to further unlock greater shareholder value.
We believe Myer is well placed in FY 2024, with a series of major initiatives landing to underpin sales and profitability. Moving to slide 19, we believe that we are well positioned for the current economic environment. I'll just take you through the three boxes. Firstly, we've repositioned the business underpinned by the plan. We've transformed the customer satisfaction and brand trust. We've reframed the merchandise strategy. We've undertaken strategic floor and space reductions. We've executed a multi-channel step change, and we've strengthened our balance sheet, refinanced debt, and built a strong cash position.... We have a unique strength to provide customer value and a reason to shop with us rather than anybody else. We have a market-leading loyalty program, MYER ONE. We have leading multi-channel capabilities.
We have Australia's broadest general merchandise offer, with less reliance on seasonal trends, and we offer gift cards and other business partnerships, and we are constantly looking at how we expand this. To the last box, we're continuing to invest strongly behind long-term value levers. Our National VC investment will drive considerable savings and enhance multi-channel customer experience. We've undertaken key brand expansions and introductions. In the last 12 months alone, we've undertaken AUD 35 million of system productivity and technology investments, and we've created a strong platform, for our business of marketplace and DSV to leverage considerable additional sales. It is for these reasons that Myer is a more robust and resilient business than when we started the Customer First plan, and is well positioned to face the changing economic environment in which we operate.
Moving to slide 20, we touched on Country Road, but just to give you a bit more detail. This announcement demonstrates the trust Myer has built within the retail industry to deliver solid outcomes for its brand partners. The return of CRG, which is ramping up in-store and online, is a clear indication of Myer's attractive proposition of creating and fostering strong, long-term strategic brand partnerships, which will provide significant positive impacts to our business in the coming years. To date, we've reintroduced all the brands back into Myer, completing installations for Country Road Women's, Men's, Children's, and Home, as well as Mimco, Trenery, Politix, and Witchery. So to date, a total of 83 shop-in-shop installations, which is an outstanding effort for all the teams involved.
The brands are now available online, and the next stage, we will have a further 93 shop-in-shop installations to be delivered before peak trade. Pleasingly, we've already had an extremely positive response from our customers. Moving on to slide 21. We will continue to invest in technology and our people to drive that customer in-store experience. We are continuing to ensure team members have the technology they need to service our customers and provide the best experience. As part of this, we've successfully undertaken a technology transformation, delivering nearly 2,500 new point-of-sale devices to all stores, providing real-time transaction details to customers, improved security, and transaction speed.
We've also completed the rollout of over 3,750 Zebra mobility devices, shaping the future for our team members, enabling them to be data-driven and digitally connected with the introduction of brand-new applications, significantly enhancing customer and team member experience, and giving us process efficiencies. Our innovative, in-house designed MMetrics team member app provides real-time digital communications, product knowledge, and performance recognition, delivered directly to our team members' devices. The app displays real-time customer feedback and provides a wide range of learning moments, including video content on products. We also have brand partner access to the platform plans for the first half of 2024, ensuring Myer team members and brand partners are working in an even closer and more collaborative way. One of the most important investments is in our people.
We have a number of team development programs underway across the business, including our MYER Retail Development Program, supporting the professional development of our future leaders. And importantly, as a result of this, one in three team members who have completed the training have been promoted to a more senior position. This, and the continued investment in high-service categories, continues to put improving store service at the forefront of our focus. Now to slide 22. In relation to our stores, we continue to refurbish our network, with key, key refurbishments underway or already complete at Chermside, Tea Tree Plaza, Marion, and Ballarat, all aimed at improving the in-store experience and amenities for customers. We are continuing to relay our stores across the network, putting in the right brands and the right offer for our customer, with new fixturing displays.
Once again, this is making our stores look better and easier to shop for our customers. This is evident if you get a chance to visit Myer Melbourne, which has seen changes to various floors, with the addition of CRG brands in the store, and the relaunch of our much-improved men's floor, which we believe is simply world-class, and still more work to be done there. We're also consolidating point of sale, meaning more registers in one spot, making it easier for customers to find a point of sale in store and ensuring a quicker and smoother checkout experience. We continue to reduce space across the store network, which stands at 14.1% since 1H 2018, with a WALE of 9.4 years as at July 2023. The closure of Frankston and Brisbane City stores are part of our space reduction numbers listed on the page.
In this work, combined, we've seen in-store sales productivity increase by 10% versus FY 2019. Moving on to Slide 23. I just want to discuss the MYER ONE Pay with Points program. Further to the strength we've been building in MYER ONE, we've been expanding partnerships that are deeper strategic relationships with recognizable brands that command large rewards and benefits, including Amex, CommBank, and Virgin's Velocity Frequent Flyer program. Loyalty rewards is becoming an increasingly important factor for Australian consumers, with customers who have access to points spending significantly more than customers who do not. Myer is well positioned to provide unmatched access to these customers to directly leverage their points, at point of sale or in-store and online, particularly as economic conditions tighten and customers are looking to use their points rather than cash.
Maximizing these partnerships provides a new source of customer growth, significant revenue streams to both in-store and online, plus another opportunity to build loyalty and cement MYER as the ultimate one-stop shop. To put this importance of our partnership programs into perspective, it is already a significant program for us, but it has the potential to be significantly bigger. With a combined reach of 36 million members when combined with MYER ONE, who have the potential to redeem points at MYER. This is a significant rewards and access pool for MYER to leverage and of value for our customers and our partners. If we move on to slide 25. Before we conclude, we want to provide an update on current trade. It is clear the broader macroeconomic factors have had an impact on the wider retail environment.
Our first six weeks of the first half have delivered comp, comp sales growth of -1.9% versus the previous year. This was, however, an improvement on the previous month of July. Despite the macroeconomic headwinds, we will retain a strong focus of profitable sales, cash, and costs. We will not, not chase unprofitable sales. We've said this all along, this business is all about chasing profitable sales. So in conclusion, our customer first plan has been, and continues to be, the right plan. It has underpinned our growth and momentum in FY 2023. It has delivered strong sales growth, up 12.5% versus FY 2022. Online continues to perform well, providing future value opportunities. We have delivered an impact growth greater than sales of 18.2% over last year.
We maintain a strong balance sheet with considerable cash and more flexible financing facility, and we continue to execute aggressively on space with a 14% reduction agreed or executed since the inception of the plan, and furthermore in the pipeline. The strength of the trading performance, cash flow generation, and the balance sheet support the declaration of a final ordinary dividend of AUD 0.01 per share. Total dividends for the full year of AUD 0.09 per share, which included a special dividend of AUD 0.04 per share, utilizing our significant accumulated franking credits. We will remain cautious about the macroeconomic environment. However, we are pleased with the momentum we are generating through the plan and have a strong pipeline of initiatives still to come, which will ensure we are well placed for the future. We have the right value-based brand proposition.
We continue to bring new brands and expand brand offers to our customers. We continue to invest in technology, our multi-channel capabilities, supply chain, and stores to generate future value, and we will continue to provide deeper customer value through our MYER ONE program and partnerships. Firstly, I want to thank all shareholders, our team members, brand partners and suppliers, but above all, our customers, for their ongoing loyalty to this great business. Thank you. We will now open up for questions.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from Mark Wade with CLSA. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and good morning. My first question is-
Good morning.
On the brand positioning. Like, sales are at, like, near 30-year highs, from what I can gather, and, so that says a lot. You know, something's certainly working, so congratulations. I mean, that said, consumer wallets are under pressure, as we all know, and your biggest rival's changed hands. So can you comment, John and Nigel, on the, on the appropriateness of the positioning of the Myer brand in this environment? Like, where could you be doing more? Is it service? Is it the stores? Like, what are you... You know, what else could you be doing?
Well, I think we said it all in the presentation. It's across the piece, Mark. I think for us, you know, the customer wants to shop the way they want to shop, which is both in-store and online. I think for us, as we said, we have the widest offer of general merchandise brands in the country, both in-store and online. We have the biggest men's branded offer. We're the biggest retailer of luxury fragrance, travel goods, bedding, et cetera. And for us, you know, our strategy has always been good, better, best. So you've got a choice of good, better, best in terms of price. You've got a choice of good, better, best in terms of brands, and then all of that is underpinned by MYER ONE.
You know, if you look at that, it's nearly 75% of our sales. It gives us a real opportunity to leverage that. And, you know, customers that are doing it hard, you know, they've got all these points, you know, they can use that instead of cash. And, you know, for us, it's a number of ways, you know, we can improve the business in terms of store service. So all those investments we've made in technology are really coming home in terms of what we're doing in front of the customer. And then, you know, this year alone, we've got so many brand extensions to go out, which will help with the top line. And then in terms of the bottom line, you know, the NDC will come on stream. It's in testing now.
We'll start delivering to customers before Christmas, and be fully operational, you know, Q1 calendar year next year. So I think we're well placed, so for customers to trade up or trade down.
Okay, excellent. And just on Myer Brisbane, I mean, can you quantify the extent of the hole that might leave, from that store closure? I presume it's probably your third biggest physical store that's gone, and-
No, it wasn't our third biggest. It was not.
Online, and what have you.
Yeah, it wasn't our third biggest. We're still looking for a store in Brisbane, but the, you know, if we stayed, we wouldn't have made any money, so there's no point. So the sales number doesn't really matter. So for us, it's about finding the right space. We were looking to downsize the store anyway. So we will pick up a fair chunk of that in the other stores. But overall, yeah, it will affect the top line a bit, but it's not gonna affect the bottom line very much at all. And we're focused on the bottom line, profitable sales.
For sure. Hey, I don't want to... Just on management succession, just want to explore that topic. Yeah, I want to applaud the decision to, yeah, appoint Matt as an internal replacement for Nigel. And, you know, I don't want to sound insensitive here, but is there a risk of the instability in the CEO role there, John, with your such a really long handover period in contrast?
I'm not sure what you mean instability, because I'm here till next, middle of next year, so-
I know-
We're working with Matt.
Just by virtue of being on for so long. Yeah, by virtue of being there for, you know, staying in that role for, like, the next 18 months, potentially, like, is that gonna cause a bit of internal ructions? Is what I'm getting at?
What, between me and Matt?
No, not between you and Matt-
Sorry.
Just, in general, you know, across the business, right? Like, is there a risk you stay too long, right? That's what I'm trying to... That's the point I'm trying to get to.
There's a risk I'm staying too long?
Uh, mm.
I don't think so.
I'll take it off.
Sorry, I'm not sure what the question is, Mark. I really do apologize.
Well, normally, you normally see a quicker succession than 18 months, right? So I think in one hand, it's good you're saying to the shareholder community, and, you know, "I'm on my way out.
Well, it's 12 months.
On the other hand, it's like, well, is it, is it too long? Yeah.
No, it was-
All right.
It's 12 months. So Mark, Mark, no, let's close it off. It's 12 months, so you know, that's all I'm staying for is 12 months. And obviously, if we find a suitable candidate sooner, then the board will make the right decision.
Mm.
Yeah.
All right. Thanks so much.
Thanks.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Shaun Cousins with UBS. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Good morning, John, Nigel. Maybe just a question just further into your highlight. You've got a good, better, best sort of offering there. Maybe where are you seeing the greater growth? Are you seeing it more skewing into that good sort of category? And maybe sort of how you're seeing that consumer facing a cost of living pressures, how are they sort of trading across your the breadth of range that you have?
Morning, Sean. It's John here. It's really interesting in that it is skewed both ways. So on the one hand, we're selling candles, AUD 750, and fragrance for AUD 500. But then also, people are looking at our opening price points and trading into those. And I think that's the beauty of our business, in that we have that good, better, best opportunity, and people can trade up and trade down. So it really is a mix across the board, and also it depends on the categories. You know, so there are people that are very brand loyal, as in, you know, they're only gonna buy Ralph Lauren or Tommy Hilfiger.
But then there's other people that will look to explore other brands that we have at different price points. So it really is a mix across the piece, and I think what we'll probably do is we'll look at it, maybe at the next set of results, when we've traded through Christmas. Because it was only really Q4 where we started to see deterioration in the consumer in terms of the macroeconomic piece. So I think as we trade through this first half, we'll have a much clearer picture for the first half results.
Gotcha. And thank you, and theft, it's up at 1.8% of sales, versus 1.3% in the PCP, and you called out Nigel was 0.9% a few years back. This has been a big theme globally, and then also in this most recent reporting season. And some questions I've got, and answer to the extent you feel appropriate, without giving too much information away, but where maybe... where's theft relative to pre-COVID, and where are you seeing this focused? Is it to the specific stores, specific SKUs or sort of categories? You know, and then, and what's driving that less negative trend that you've started to see as some of your initiatives come to play, or come into place?
Yeah, it's definitely, it's definitely way worse than it was before COVID. We're starting to see some improvement, as Nigel said, some early signs where we're focusing in on particularly the organized crime element of it. I'm not going to give too much away, because we have a number of things ongoing with various police forces and also other retailers. But it's certainly one where we are all united, you know, in terms of we've got to deal with this, and we need to deal with it in the appropriate way, and make sure that our team members are safe. You know, when they come to work, there's an awful lot of aggression out there, and we want to make sure that first and foremost, our team members are safe and sound, and they're okay.
We will then attack it on a more strategic basis in terms of bringing it down. And, you know, we are putting, as we said before, more coverts in, et cetera, et cetera. So we will attack this over the coming months and years.
Great, thanks. And, yep, that, conscious of how sensitive that is. And then just maybe just finally on online's been a big story. Maybe just how are you sort of seeing the split of your online sales between those products that are available in stores, and then you brought a third party or sort of marketplace sort of type offerings? I'm just curious around, you know, that sort of 20% of sales that online is. How much of that is-
... true omni-channel, as in product that's available in stores as well, and how much of it's just sort of online exclusive, please?
That's a great question. I don't have the number off the top of my head. We will- we'll talk about it, but, it'll be significantly the multi-channel piece. I don't like the word omni, because I think that's a consultant language, but there we go. But in terms of the multi-channel, I think the vast majority will be people that, as we said, you know, 59%, you know, online, before they go to do their research online before they buy in store, and 25% in store before they buy online. So, the vast majority of that sales mix will be pure multi-channel or omni-channel, if you want to use that word, sure.
Okay. Okay, fantastic. Thanks, John. Thanks, Nigel.
Thank you. Thanks.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Johannes Faul with Morgan-- Morningstar. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. I had a question on just, on the sales performance you've seen in the last six weeks, and, I understand it's, it's a bit better than what it was in July. Can you split that out across categories? Like, which categories were down more than others? And I'm just thinking about fashion versus, household goods, perhaps, and beauty.
We don't normally do that, so... But what I can tell you is, what is selling well is new product, new season products. So people are really buying into the transitional spring/summer merchandise that we've got out there at the moment.
Okay.
You know, beauty still remains strong. I think we said before that, you know, you go into slightly tougher economic conditions, sort of, the people stop spending on homeware and stop spending on men. Although we still have some very successful standout home business, businesses within that. But at the moment, all I'd say is that, you know, what we're seeing is a good uptick in the new season merchandise, which is helping that improved performance from July and August.
Right. And then just on productivity gains per store, you mentioned that they were, productivity was up 10%, measured as sales per square meters. But what about the profitability per square meter? So taking into account that, rent's gone up and wages have gone up over that period from S or pre-COVID to now, is that up, too?
Well-
The profitability per square meter.
Yeah. EBITDA per square meter did increase, so period-on-period, so yes, it's definitely up as well.
'Cause when we do these deals, Johannes, we tend to... So if we, if we're taking a store and going from four floors to two, we tend to get a lower per meter rent because the landlord's getting more for the two floors that we give back. So the rent doesn't necessarily go up when we do a downsize.
Got it. Okay. Thanks, John. Thanks, Nigel.
Thanks.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Michael Saba, with Saba Group. Please go ahead.
John, Nigel, just want to thank you and the whole team, mate, for achieving awesomeness. And we hope you're there till the last day. We think you've provided some of the greatest stability in Myer's history. So just wanted to please ask, mate, just that beautiful leadership, that humble leadership with a balance of IQ and EQ that you've showed, the head, heart, and hands balance, that's been pivotal. And we walk through Myer stores right throughout. It's been pivotal in allowing us to achieve the greatness that we have. What is being done to make sure that post, you know, the exit of John King, that... What initiatives have been taken to ensure that culture remains, that happy and productive culture remains?
Good question. I mean, I think the culture is through the whole business, Michael. As you know, if you've met a few of the senior management team, I mean, we all behave the same way. Our values are embedded in us. You know, we're all focused on the plan. Everyone's united by a common cause, in terms of how we deliver a great experience to our customers, whether it's physically or digitally. And you can rest assured that, you know, the culture of this business is well established now and amongst all leaders, you know, from top to bottom throughout the company.
Mate, thank you for that. What will make us ensure that our good friend Solomon Lew's culture will not override what has been achieved and what has been proven and tested since you've taken that helm? Is that, once again, is it just, is there any guarantee that there won't be a wholesale change in the team that you so much have confidence in? And we are so much proud of you, Nigel, John, everybody that... What will make sure that that will not be a concern for the future?
Well, I think that, you know, Premier have been a supportive shareholder. As they've increased their stake, clearly they see value, which, you know, regarding, you know, the business that we have here. You know, we have a, an independent board. So I think there's, there's plenty of things in place. And, you know, I think, I think, you know, Premier see great value in Myer, and, and they're supportive. So that is, that's what we want from all shareholders.
Love it, mate. I'm convinced in what you say, and we love Mr. Lew, and we appreciate what Premier does. Just wanted some reassurance on this front, 'cause we don't necessarily agree with every aspect of their, the way they lead. But really grateful. Thank you. We're gonna miss you, mate. We're gonna... We hope that you're gonna be there till the last day, John. Thank you.
Thank you, Michael.
Thank you. Your next question comes from James Bisinella with Unified Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, John. Hi, Nigel. Congratulations on the results. Just, just one for me in terms of the National Distribution Center. Just wondering if you could flesh out a bit further what it means to the group in terms of capacity and potential sales over time. Thank you.
Yeah, sure. I mean, it's... The first thing is, we're gonna remove about 60-65% of our online fulfillment from stores to the NDC, once it's fully operational. So we're starting already operationally testing now, on a small way, but we're fully operational Q1 calendar year next year. That will give us significant savings, which we will probably outline in more detail in the next results update. So that just gives us great efficiency. If you think about picking a product in a store compared to it being automatically picked by a robot in a distribution center, there's a significant difference in the fulfillment cost. So we'd expect that to fall to the bottom line. Also, the second phase of the NDC is to take on central stocks.
So rather than fully allocate to stores, that gives us flexibility to send the right stock to the right place at the right time. So that will provide us with upside in sales and margin, in terms of sending the stock to the right place, and also a reduction in markdowns, in that we won't be over-sending stock to the wrong place. So those are the kind of broader, benefits that we'll get from it. Capacity-wise, we're only running it on one shift. Because it's fully automated and, you know, robots don't need to eat or sleep, we can run it on three shifts if we needed to. We have the capacity to do that. So it gives us certainly another AUD 1.5 billion worth of sales capacity, in terms of the business, if not more.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. King for closing remarks.
Thank you very much. I'd like to thank you all for joining us today, and don't forget to shop with Myer, and your MYER ONE, get your MYER ONE points, and we'll see you all soon. Thank you.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.