Myer will double down and invest in its languishing sass & bide, Marcs and David Lawrence brands that drove profits 26 per cent lower as it seeks to extract better margins from exclusive brands and drum up stronger customer loyalty.

New chief executive Olivia Wirth, the former Qantas loyalty boss, on Friday unveiled her first set of Myer full-year results, which showed that total sales declined by 2.9 per cent and signalled a more hands-on approach with those brands.

“They have been managed at arm’s-length, and it’s an opportunity for us to rethink and restructure the way these businesses are run,” Wirth told this masthead.

Myer will close 10 of sass & bide’s 14 standalone stores and establish concession stores for the brand within eight Myer stores. The stores that will close include Bondi, Miranda, Canberra, Chadstone, Doncaster, Emporium, Rundle Street, Karrinyup, Paddington, and Newmarket in New Zealand. Remaining open are the Claremont, James Street, South Wharf and Harbour Town stores.

“Private label isn’t only about having the exclusivity from a customer perspective and giving them a reason to shop at Myer; importantly, it also delivers greater value for us, greater margins, which is important from a shareholder perspective,” Wirth told investors on Friday morning. “These are high-margin generators, and it is important to optimise the sales contributions of these brands to create bottom-line profit growth.”

Investors were unimpressed with the department chain’s full-year figures and update, sending its share price tumbling more than 11 per cent in the morning before paring back. Myer shares closed 0.6 per cent lower.

Myer also intends to chase younger, more fashion-conscious customers, who are less driven by discounting, and to sharpen promotions to make them more relevant to the customer.

“We’re possibly, potentially underweight at the moment in an offering for a younger demographic in relation to apparel. I wouldn’t say the same for beauty,” Wirth said. “We do have a very loyal customer. Our opportunity here is to really stretch this out into slightly younger but also more fashion-focused customers.”