Shares in Myer, still lands at 16 per cent below their float price as it is unable to grab any upward momentum from the department store's more-than-expected profit result yesterday.

When Myer shares registered as $4.10 a share on November 2 and shows a fall that took them as low as $3.12 in the first week of February there were 206 investors possessing more than 100,000 shares, and 59,131 holding less than 100,000, including 52,627 who held 5000 shares or less.

However, Chief executive Bernie Brookes restrained its sales growth predictions for the rest of the year, instead cautioned against sluggish trading conditions.

Myer revealed its interim net profit to be $21.3 million for the six months to January 23, registering a 74.4 per cent fall. However, once the costs of November's initial public offering were excluded, the company's profit boosted 38 per cent to $115 million.

Also, it is reported that the profit was in line with analysts' expectations, exceeding the first-half prospectus target of $108 million by more than 11 per cent.

However, its first half sales failed to meet prospectus numbers, rising 2 per cent to $1.797 billion for a target of grab $1.834 billion for the period.