Myer is a classic discretionary retailer that provides clear visibility into how Australians are spending during this downturn. Last week, the department store chain flagged that its 2024 sales were expected to be pretty flat for the year and profit would be down about 26 per cent, courtesy of the “challenging consumer and trading environment”.

But the sharemarket response to those underwhelming numbers has been tempered by the salivary prospect of acquiring a number of apparel businesses from its largest shareholder, retail billionaire Solomon Lew, which produced a floor under the Myer share price.

[Company results] could have been worse – as could the sharemarket response.

Meanwhile, furniture retailer Nick Scali’s result last week provided a window into the trading conditions in this sector. Revenue for 2024 was down 7.8 per cent and underlying profit fell 18.8 per cent.

However, online rival Temple & Webster delivered a result that bucked the gloomy trend. Revenue jumped 26 per cent to a record in the past financial year, sending its shares flying.

This company is a member of a newer style of retail disruptors with an online-only presence and a value-based offer that appeals to cash-strapped consumers who can’t splurge but are looking to incrementally improve their homes. As such, it is something of an outlier in the discretionary retail sector.

Are we building or renovating houses with gusto?

Official stats and James Hardie’s latest result say no. The building materials maker sold 9 per cent less of its fibre cement product in our region, and earnings in this part of the world followed the same trajectory. Price rises that it pushed through weren’t enough to offset the fall in sales volumes.

Meanwhile, the results of online employment marketplace Seek provided some insight into how businesses are dealing with the economic environment.

“Seek’s headline financial outcomes for the year were impacted by a significant reduction in job ad volumes across [Asia Pacific] relative to previous record highs,” Seek declared in its earnings report, which showed adjusted 2024 profits fell by a third.

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The slump comes after Seek’s performance had been buoyed by a rise in job advertisements over the past couple of years as companies desperately sought staff in the post-COVID “great resignation” era.

The results of most traditional media companies remain pending, but expectations are poor.

News Corp said last week that its news media segment suffered a 23 per cent earnings decline in financial 2024. Rupert Murdoch’s media empire alongside Nine Entertainment (owner of this masthead) and Seven West Media have been on a staff-shedding cost-cutting drive over the past couple of months as they grapple with soft advertising demand.

All in all, there’s nothing particularly surprising in the company results already announced during this earnings season.

They measure up closely to the disappointment that was expected.

That said, they could have been worse – as could the sharemarket’s response.

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