Hints and tips:
Related Special Reports
...As well as the rights issue, M&S cut its dividend by 40 per cent to help foot the bill....
...M&S’s UK clothing and home sales declined every year from 2011 through to 2020 before staging a small recovery against pre-pandemic levels in 2022....
...Revenues in France, where the company has been converting acquired stores into the B&M format, were up 24.9 per cent....
...M&S added that its clothing business reported its highest market share in seven years, suggesting that efforts to simplify ranges and move to a less promotional pricing strategy are bearing fruit....
...Variety discounter B&M European Value has upgraded its full-year profit forecast after a strong third quarter and will pay a £200mn special dividend next month....
...Matt — I’m sure somebody already suggested Andrew Wylie in the Guardian?...
...And for all M&S’s current momentum, it has limitations of its own....
...B&M’s sales boomed during the pandemic. Because it sells food it was classed as an “essential” retailer and allowed to keep its stores open during lockdowns....
...At quoted rival B&M, they were almost 8 per cent of sales....
...“There is nothing yet that we are particularly worried about” said M&S chief executive Stuart Machin, when asked about the outlook this week....
...M&S has previously said it is in talks over the outcome. Shares in Ocado fell by more than 6 per cent in early London trading. M&S stock was little changed....
...Machin said that M&S customers, who tend to be slightly older and more affluent than those of mainstream supermarkets, were “slightly more insulated” from cost of living pressures and that they were “letting...
...So-called “variety discounters” such as B&M and Home Bargains in the UK and Action in Europe have also struggled with the economics....
...quality, service and choice underpinned by M&S food became diluted”....
...In response, M&S has set out plans to cut another £150mn off its cost base next year....
...Ocado reiterated that it did not intend to sell its half-share in Ocado Retail to M&S to raise funds. “That is not an option we are seriously considering,” said Daintith....
...B&M recently reported a fall in sales and profits in the first half of its fiscal year while Poundland owner Pepco has said UK trading conditions “remain challenging”....
...“It’s not something I’m particularly proud of,” he added. “We were always the best or second-best payer on the high street and that differential has eroded as the minimum wage has gone up....
...Berendji cites Chesterfield, where M&S has moved into a former Debenhams store, as an example....
...It set up an “M Local” brand in 2013 under a previous chief executive, but Potts abandoned the venture in 2015 and sold the 140 stores that the company had opened to investment group Greybull Capital....
...However, M&S chief executive Stuart Machin and finance director Eoin Tonge are both non-executives on the Ocado Retail board....
...I also have a super-cool helmet by Eley Kishimoto. I wear the brand’s clothes all the time and my house in London is full of Kishimoto interiors pieces....
...M&S has said that would be impractical because of differing floor levels and the presence of asbestos in all three buildings....
...Jonathan Eley is the FT’s retail correspondent Find out about our latest stories first — follow @financialtimesfashion on Instagram Letter in response to this article: Predictive text really gets its...
...“I’m pretty sure he’ll still be talking to Michael Murray pretty much every day,” said the businessman who has known him for years....
International Edition