Myer stumbles & retailers’ dilemma; Albo and Trump; El Nino causes havoc
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Why did Myer report a $276 million loss and what does it mean for Australian retailers?
Welcome to Fear and Greed, Business News You Can News. Today, Maya announces a big drop in sales as retailers struggle to survive higher interest rates. The cost of servicing the federal government's debt is set to jump by billions of dollars, and El Nino causes havoc and death across the Pacific Ocean. Plus, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets US President Donald Trump, but the two countries are increasingly at odds over. AI. And Iran and the US sit back down at the negotiating table. It is Thursday, the 24th of September, 2026. I'm Michael Thompson, and good morning, Sean Ayl.
Good morning, Michael. Very special day in my family. Rosie, my youngest, turns 18 today. It's also her formal. Of figure twelve tonight, it's quite quite the twenty four hours. Oh, that sounds like it's got the potential
to be a very big night, Sean. A very late night
for me.
But happy birthday, Rosie. Happy birthday, Rosie. 18. End formal on the same day. Congratulations. That's very exciting. Big day in the Aylmer household. Well done, Sean. Let's uh rip into the main story this morning. Maya plunged to a $276 million annual loss with weak consumer spending and heavy discounting putting enormous pressure on the department store. Group. In fact, Sean, there's so much pressure that Meyer wants to start the Christmas trading period. Now. It's not even Christmas. It's very early, right?
How are higher interest rates and freight costs squeezing retailer margins?
Three interest rate rises, uh, higher petrol and freight costs, weak consumer confidence, and falling property prices are making households increasingly cautious. We've been talking about this, but it's hitting retailers harder than most. And Meyer's loss included almost $280 million of write downs, while underlying earnings fell 7% to $139 million. Like for like sales grew just 0.7% for the year. And the new financial year has started slowly, exactly what they would not want. Total sales fell 2.7% over the first.
First eight weeks. It isn't pretty though. There were some bright spots. Women's fashion returned to growth for the first time in about eight years, nine years, while Meyer One, the loyalty program, has now a record 5.3 million active users. Notably, the apparel brands acquired from Premier Investments are struggling, with Just Jeans the only one to grow sales. And Solomon Lou, Meyer's biggest shareholder, the Kingping of Premier Investments. He joins the board this week, more than two decades after being pushed pushed off the old Coles Meyer board. Notwithstanding this seemingly poor result, Meyer's shares initially jumped about 10% yesterday, then they closed flat. So far this year, my share price is down about 60%.
Since its peak around Christmas 2024, it's gone from a dollar twenty-six a share to less than twenty cents a share.
Yeah, that it's not great for Maya investors. The bigger story here though, Sean, seems to be this increasingly difficult environment that uh Australian retailers are facing. It means that we are seeing retailers discounting really aggressively to try and generate sales and that is squeezing margins just as their own costs remain elevated.
That's right. So we had Q collapsed this month. KMD brands reported yesterday. So I think Kathmandu ripcall uh big, big loss there. Pressure could get worse. If we have an interest rate hike next week as expected. It'll take more money from mortgage holders. We've still got falling house prices. That'll hurt consumer confidence.
What impact will an early Christmas sales period have on Myer’s recovery?
That's not good for retailers. Now, what Maya pointed out yesterday is that Black Friday and Christmas becomes more important than ever. And Maya actually wants to start Christmas next week because in this environment, it doesn't think it can wait for December. So expect to see less. Lots of promotions, lots of deals in the next few months.
Okay. Now, Wall Street's run has continued, pushing the local market higher. The SPAS X two hundred closed up seven points to eight thousand seven hundred and sixty-five points. So not hugely up, but hey, uh a win to win. We will. I'll stop being picky. Uh the miners really were leading the way yesterday. Uh overnight in the US, oil prices had dropped to around
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why did Myer report a $276 million loss and what does it mean for Australian retailers?
0:06–1:37
2
How are higher interest rates and freight costs squeezing retailer margins?
1:37–3:49
3
What impact will an early Christmas sales period have on Myer’s recovery?
3:49–6:20
4
How are global interest‑rate hikes adding billions to Australia’s federal deficit?
6:20–9:13
5
What are the key points of the Australia‑US AI dispute between Albanese and Trump?
9:13–11:52
6
Why did Trump threaten Iran at the UN and how might that affect global energy markets?
11:52–13:36
7
How is El Niño driving deadly Pacific storms and disrupting supply chains?
13:36–16:20
8
What practical AI advice do accountants need and why isn’t AI a cure‑all?
16:20–17:53
Speakers
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