Retailer Myer Group has reported a 2008 net profit of $93.6 million, up from $73.4 million in 2007. An increase of 27% over the prior year.
Total sales were slightly up from $3.29 billion to $3.32 billion, whilst sales revenue at $2.94 billion was slightly down from $3.00 billion.

Myer management expect tough market conditions to continue as shopping is effected by tighter consumer sentiment for the 2009 year profit and expect profits to be flat and similar to the 2008 result. They also expect their longer term outlook to be even better with earnings before interest and tax of seven cents in the dollar by mid 2010.

Specialist department store retailer David Jones has announced a 25.1% rise in net profits to $137.05 million for the 2008 year.

The retailer’s sales grew by 5.8% from $1.98 million in to $2.10 million. The company confirmed it’s 2009 earnings projection of a 5%-10% profit increase. DJ’ management expects to have to endure a cople of low quarters due to the effects of interest rates and high petrol prices compounded by the US financial termoil, however said that they have lots of flexibility in pricing.

GHA has announced a major overhaul of its trade fair allocation and exhibition contracts with members from February 2009 as part of it fight back to secure its trade fair exhibitions, increase the quality and quantity of exhibitors for retailers and to increase the benefits to exhibitor members.

Established by its exhibitors over 30 years ago, GHA is a not-for-profit organisation that provides the most cost effective trade shows in the gifts and homewares industry.

New sweeping changes to their stand allocation system, are designed to make it fairer for regular and loyal exhibitors, provide surety of tenure, easier long term planning and make it more difficult for competitors to offer one-off deals to entice some members to exhibit elsewhere instead.

Key stand allocation changes include:-
(1) Formally adopting the previously proposed loyalty bonus, where a Member company who exhibits with GHA at all three of GHA’s Home & Giving Fairs in any one calendar year gets an additional bonus Trade Fair Point.

(2) Reallocation of all exhibition space for all fairs for 2009.

(3) Reduced rates for contracted exhibitors who sign up for 2 or 3 fairs per annum, with higher reductions for longer contract terms.

(4) Changing the basis of fresh reallocation of a floor plan, so that Key Exhibitors (as determined by GHA management), are allocated space first irrespective of trade fair points, followed by members who are contracted exhibitors, ahead of casual and occasional exhibitors, each based on trade fair points.

(5) Only contracted exhibitors will have rebooking rights for the same space. (Key Exhibitors will be required to be contracted).

Gift & Homewares Australia’s Chief Executive Alby Taylor says:

“GHA has lead industry change for more than three decades.  As the peak representative body in the gift & homewares industry, we are receiving support from our members for improvements that must be made to help people’s businesses and the industry prosper into the future.

“We have taken considerable care to ensure that our new policies are fair for all members and benefit the industry as a whole.

“Beginning in February 2009, our new exhibition policies come into effect and consist of: a new stand allocation system; and discounted exhibition rates for loyal members who commit to a multi-fair contract. We are rewarding our members’ loyalty by offering an unbeatable return on investment.

“Unlike commercial exhibition companies, we have a genuine interest in the long term future of people’s businesses and the industry as whole.”

The “Dad & Dave” Rudd government’s propaganda about the economic outlook, both during and after the recent federal election, has caused the impressionable Reserve Bank to overkill on interest rate hikes and place the economic outlook into actual risk. This of course has most hurt the very sheep that voted the final level of union controlled government into the charge of the main till, when they were already badly failing to manage the states.

Now, at a time when retailers are concerned most about sales trends and forward estimates, we learn that the dynamic duo are cutting down the level of the monthly retail statistics reporting produced by the ABS, with the sample size reduced by two thirds. This is also a much higher cutback than other areas affected by their so called razor gang cutbacks to the ABS budget.

Until this change, our best economic indicator data came from the ABS retail sales numbers which were reported monthly with a lag of around 30 days. Retailing in Australia employs around 1.2 million people. This is almost 15 per cent of the workforce, making it the largest private sector employer.

The health of the Australian retail trade is the core of our economies health. Do Dad and Dave know this? Its hard to believe they do, whilst they are still unable to decide what to do with the huge projected economic surplus they have inherited. They are still focused on changing the structure that gave the country full employment and on propaganda to justify their false election claims to be able to put downward pressure on things they can have no control over, like petrol prices.

Specialist Exhibition company Reed Gift Fairs of Chatswood NSW has published the results of a survey designed to identify the current and preferred seasonal buying preferences of retailers and their planned gifts and homewares trade fair visitation in 2009.

The results say that most retailers currently buy stock for the main Christmas period buying season during August (70.1%) and September (69.4%) with the next most popular month being later in October (31.3%). Their preferred month for buying was August (31.3%) with September a close (27.8%) followed by October & July (almost equal and both at half those levels). Reed emphasises that the survey results show that the current cycle of trade fairs is already accurately timed.

Reed have been ramming this message home to all exhibitors at the Melbourne trade fair with huge billboards and by mail-out direct to all exhibitors. No doubt as a result of their hopes to keep the windfall September Sydney fair to themselves now. Reed seem to be determined to further embarrass their competitors GHA, following the GHA’s failure to secure enough exhibitors for September 2008 and simultaneous announcement that they were planning to do July trade fairs in Sydney instead from 2009, launching on the same date as Reed’s Brisbane gift fair.

Disillusioned GHA Members who had booked to exhibit at the Sydney September 2008 fair at the Showgrounds at Homebush were forced to pay almost double the rate at the Reed venue at Darling Harbour, mainly because the GHA (Gift & Homewares Association) is a not for profit organisation. Reed have since switched their Brisbane 2009 gift fair date to reduce the possibility that GHA’s Sydney July Home & Giving fair may draw exhibitors away from the Brisbane fair.

Key issues for GHA exhibitors now are; will the September gift fair now be worthwhile when the costs are almost double? Will Reed put the prices up further if they keep a monopoly on the more popular Sydney September fair dates? And can exhibitors afford to give up the September booking to try the cheaper July Sydney Fair? Or should they just scrap both? The problem for most exhibitors is that the costs of exhibiting at the smaller fairs are often not covered by sales results.

An interesting battle looms between July and September fairs and these two organisations as there does not seem to be room for two annual Sydney trade fairs within 3 months. The experienced hard nosed management at Reed have proven to be formidable in the recent past by winning over many GHA exhibitors even though GHA are able to offer exhibition sites at almost half the costs.