Myer chief John King has scuttled persistent rumours the department store chain will call in administrators to speed up store closures, saying it was making headway on its turnaround plan and hoped to lift profits this year after delivering its first earnings growth for nine years in 2019.

British and US retailers such as Debenhams, Barneys and Arcadia are filing for bankruptcy or going into voluntary administration in record numbers to exit onerous leases, but Mr King, the former boss of UK department store chain House of Fraser, said it was not on Myer’s radar.