Ann: Trading Update, page-40

This from 'The Oz' singles out 'department stores' as recording a turnover drop in December 2021. It may be bad news for MYR but until we receive the half yearly report, impossible to be definitive:

(Disclsoure: I sold MYR a few days ago but may by back in. I don;t perceive this ABS news as good for the SP):

Australian shoppers scaled back spending in December after two blockbuster months, with retail trade coming in 4.4 per cent lower than in November.

The largest monthly decline since the national lockdown of 2020 came after turnover had jumped by 7.3 per cent in November, and by 4.9 per cent in October as the country’s two largest states exited the Delta disruptions, the seasonally adjusted figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed.

Goldman Sachs chief economist Andrew Boak said December’s decline “was largely driven by a pullback in spending on discretionary goods after Black Friday sales in the prior month, although the surge in local Omicron cases towards the end of the month may have also contributed”.

The $31.9bn in December sales were 4.8 per cent up on a year ago, and ABS director of quarterly economy wide statistics Ben James said “despite this month’s fall, retail turnover remains strong”.

More up-to-date bank card spending data suggests spending held up relatively well through the Omicron wave, and was picking back up through January.

The ABS figures showed Victoria recorded the largest monthly decline – down 8.4 per cent – but, again, this was off record levels in November. Victorians spent $8.2bn in December – the third most in history and 6.5 per cent more than a year earlier.

NSW turnover had the next largest fall, down by 4.2 per cent to under $10bn. Northern Territory was the only jurisdiction to report a lift in retail trade, up 3.6 per cent “as lockdown restrictions eased and the introduction of lockouts allowed more favourable trading conditions for businesses,” the ABS said.

Five of the six retail industries tracked by the ABS fell in the month, led by a 21 per cent drop in department store spending, followed by a 17 per cent fall in spending on clothing and footwear. Spending in cafes and restaurants was slightly down, while “other retailing” recorded a 4 per cent decline.

Bucking the trend was a 2.2 per cent lift in food retailing – which includes supermarkets and bottle shops.

Again, spending across industries was higher than a year earlier, besides department stores, where turnover was 9 per cent down on December 2020.