Myer drops 100 fashion and homewares brands; Telstra unveils streaming device: Midday Roundup

Myer will scrap around 100 brands from its stores in a bid to streamline its product offering and lift sales growth.

The decision will affect men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, footwear and homewares brands.

“I think it’s positive because one of my criticisms is they have way too many brands and don’t have enough volume to do justice to some of the brands,” one supplier told Fairfax.

“The new management at Myer and David Jones are placing much more focus on returns and productivity per square metre than we’ve ever seen before, which is very positive.”

The so-called spring-cleaning comes after Myer cut 80 jobs from its head office in May under a restructure driven by chief executive Richard Umbers.

Telstra unveils streaming device

Telstra has unveiled a streaming device that will allow it to offer popular services, Netflix and Stan.

Called Roku 2, the device will allow users to play catch-up and stream on-demand services, as well as use streaming services, and will be launched as part of Telstra TV in September, according to Fairfax.

The move is set to win Telstra new internet subscribers and could see it take on the likes of Apple, Foxtel and Google.

Shares up on open

Aussie shares have shaken off their lacklustre results from earlier in the week off the back of a positive showing from Wall Street.

Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said traders will get some relief this morning from the “wall of worry” that has been plaguing the local share market.

“The fact that China’s stock markets bounced off lows yesterday combined with the first rally for some time in oil and base metals markets will provide an improved macro setting for early trade today,” Spooner said.

“While markets were relieved by the intraday bounce in China’s stock market, many will remain cautious until there is some confirmation of a definite trend change in this market with prices continuing to move clearly away from yesterday’s support levels.”

The S&P/ASX 200 benchmark was up 55.8 points to 5640.5 points at 12:22pm AEST. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones closed 189.68 points higher, up 1.09% to 17,630.27 points.