News: MYR UPDATE 1-Australia's Myer falls 7% as consumer spending woes hurt profit view

(Updates with final share moves and analyst comments)

Aug 8 (Reuters) - Shares of Myer Holdings (MYR) fell about 7% on Thursday in their worst session in a year, after the Australian department store chain forecast a drop in annual profit owing to less spending by consumers and store closures.

Myer's stock closed 7.1% lower at A$0.780, marking the lowest close in a month and biggest daily drop since August last year. It fell as much as 8.9% earlier in the day.

Over six million shares changed hands during the day, more than four times the 30-day average.

Myer projected a net profit after tax between A$50 million and A$54 million ($32.76 million-$35.38 million) for fiscal 2024, a significant drop from the prior fiscal year's A$71.1 million. Sales were also seen 3% below last year's level.

The bleak outlook reflects "challenging consumer and trading environment, impact of store closures, inflationary cost pressures, and underperformance of three speciality brands", the retailer said in a statement.

Myer estimated the underperformance of its wholly owned fashion brands Sass & Bide, Marcs and David Lawrence accounted for about half of the decline in full-year profit.

"This reporting season will draw a line under a difficult year for Australian retailers in which they navigated soft demand and soaring labour costs," Morningstar analysts wrote in a note.

Morningstar predicted flat sales and earnings for Myer in fiscal 2025.

Myer will report its fiscal 2024 earnings in September.

($1 = 1.5265 Australian dollars)