UK retailer Marks and Spencer to axe 7,000 jobs

LONDON - Marks and Spencer, the British retail chain selling clothing and food, is to cut around 7,000 jobs as the coronavirus pandemic keeps shoppers away from its stores, it announced Tuesday.

The job cuts, to be carried out over the next three months, include losses from its central support centre, in regional management and in its UK stores, M&S said in statement.

Agence France-Presse

Marks and Spencer blames new website for quarterly sales fall

LONDON - British retailer Marks & Spencer reported its 12th straight quarterly fall in its clothing, footwear and homeware division on Tuesday, hurt by the transition to a new website.

Britain's biggest clothing retailer, which also sells food, said sales at its general merchandise division at stores open for more than a year fell 1.5 percent in the 13 weeks to June 28, its financial first quarter.

That compares with analysts' forecasts in a range of between 1 percent and 2 percent down and a decline of 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter of M&S's 2013/14 financial year.

"We have seen a continued improvement in clothing, although, as anticipated, the settling in of the new M&S.com site has had an impact on sales," Chief Executive Marc Bolland said.

The new website is a pillar of the intended transformation of the 130-year-old business into an international retailer reaching customers through stores, the web, tablets and mobile devices.

However, there have been reports of problems with re-registration and navigation on the new platform. The company said that M&S.com sales fell 8.1 percent in the first quarter.

Bolland has spent 2.3 billion pounds ($3.9 billion) over the past three years in a push to address decades of underinvestment, overseeing the redesign of products and stores and an overhaul of logistics to serve the new website.

However, a new clothing team he set up in 2012 has failed to deliver a sustained increase in sales and, for the first time, M&S earned less in the year to the end of March than its faster-growing rival Next.

M&S said that sales from its womenswear division were up as a result of stronger full-price sales, but overall its clothing like-for-like sales fell 0.6 percent, against a 0.6 percent rise in the fourth quarter.

M&S's food business, which contributes more than half of group sales but less profit, is performing much better and delivered a 19th consecutive quarter of growth.

Its sales on the same basis rose 1.7 percent, against analysts' forecasts of up 1.5-2.5 percent and a fourth-quarter rise of 0.1 percent.

The company said its full-year guidance remains unchanged.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Qatar not considering bid for Marks & Spencer

DUBAI/LONDON, - Qatar Holding, the investment arm of the Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund, is not considering a bid for British retailer Marks & Spencer, a source close to the fund said on Monday.

Shares in Marks & Spencer (M&S) jumped 8 percent in early Monday trading after The Sunday Times newspaper said the Qatar Investment Authority wanted to assemble a consortium to mount an 8-billion-pound ($12.1 billion) takeover of Britain's biggest clothing retailer.

Qatar Holding is the vehicle through which the wealth fund conducts some of its biggest overseas investments.

M&S declined to comment.

Despite the denial from the source, some analysts think M&S, whose core women's clothes business has been losing market share, could be vulnerable to a private equity bid.

"Trading and profits are under pressure, with nothing to show yet for the big investments made in online systems and warehousing and the changes in the clothing team," said independent retail analyst Nick Bubb.

He also noted that from a funding perspective, the recent improvement in the debt markets and the amount of money currently in private equity makes a bid possible.

"From a strategic perspective, however, the question is what anybody thinks could be done with a declining brand like M&S."

One of M&S's top 20 shareholders also told Reuters a private equity-style bid was possible.

"You could argue that the business could support quite a bit of debt if it wasn't having to pay a dividend," said the investor.

Shares in M&S were up 5.4 percent at 393 pence at 0905 GMT.

source: abs-cbnnews.com