David Jones business showed a net profit of $83.45m for the 52 weeks to the end of June, a turnaround from the loss of $125.9m in 2020. The large loss in 2020 came on top of a $489.23m loss in 2019 and $785m in 2018. Gross profit in 2021 was lifted to $737.423m from $672.398m in 2020 with the big shift in fortunes coming from other income (property sales and leases) that boosted to $122.728m from $31.977m in 2020. Property sales included the sale of the Elizabeth St Sydney CBD building for $510m, producing a gain on the sale of $19.02m, and the sale of a building in Bourke St, Melbourne CBD, for $121m with a gain on the sale of $23.76m. The fast pace of the turnaround was driven by key operational initiatives too, including ripping tens of millions of dollars of costs out of the business, shutting down most of its loss-making food halls, exiting its BP alliance and cutting floor space by as much as 7%.