Struggling department store chain Myer has reported an annual loss of $486 million.

It is the company's first loss since it listed on the Australian share market in 2009 — and a significant downgrade from its $12 million profit in the 2016-17 financial year.

The biggest impact to the results was to Myer's brand name and goodwill, which was written-down by $515.3 million.

Chairman Gary Hounsall and newly appointed chief executive John King expressed their disappointment at the results.

"These results are obviously disappointing and shareholders deserve better," Mr King said in a statement.

Also contributing to its weak result was a 48 per cent drop in pre-tax earnings, down to $55.4 million — and a 3.2 per cent slide in total sales to $3.1 billion.

Its earnings margin also suffered, falling from 3.33 per cent to 1.79 per cent in the past financial year.

One bright spot was that Myer's online sales rose 34.1 per cent to $192.5 million.

However, Myer still relies predominantly on customers visiting its physical stores to make purchases — as online sales accounted for just 7.7 per cent of its total sales.

"The 2018 financial year results are disappointing," Mr Hounsall said.

"When it became apparent to the board that the execution of the strategy was not going to deliver an improved financial performance, we made the decisive move to make significant leadership changes."

Back in February, the retailer sacked its then-chief executive Richard Umbers for failing to turn the company around.

It also hired new chief merchandise officer Allan Winstanley and chief financial officer Nigel Chadwick.

Mr King started his job as the new Myer CEO in June, and was previously the head of UK department store House of Fraser.

The company was booted out of the benchmark ASX 200 index in March, due to its plummeting share price.

Myer's total market value is around $330 million, close to its record low.

Its share price had fallen 8.1 per cent to 40 cents at 11:25am (AEST).

"The outlook for Myer remains highly challenging," Citi's retail analyst Bryan Raymond said in a research note.

He said a "return to sales growth and improved earnings realisation is likely to prove difficult", and that the bank retains its "sell" rating.

"The sales outlook will remain volatile, as the business transitions towards less discounting, more profitable sales."