Marks and SpencersLike-for-like sales, which ignore new store openings, rose 0.1% in the 13 weeks to 2 April.
General merchandise fell 3.9%, but that was cancelled out by a 3.4% rise in food sales
General merchandise fell 3.9%, but that was cancelled out by a 3.4% rise in food sales
And please note..continuing on from previous retail post.
The company added that it was planning to increase its store space in the UK by about 2% and overseas by about 10%. Last week, it announced plans to return to the French market, 10 years after closing its stores in Western Europe.
I hope you're all writing this down.
If you're picking winners look for good online, and expansion overseas
-3.9 +3.4 = +0.1
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean M&S makes more from food than everything else?
Why don't they expand in North America?
ReplyDelete..oh, forgot. They did.
Well if a 3.4% rise cancels out a 3.9% fall I would guess that a bit over 50% of the total sales were food...
ReplyDeleteCan't you pick us some losers to short instead? It's nearly May!
ReplyDeleteSteven_L : given you plenty of losers already. Inexplicably they are all still hanging in.
ReplyDeleteOddbins {back from 2008 we predicted that one.}
JJB - {pulled off a major coup to stay afloat. Amazed they got away with it. Will have major lease repercussions for other retailers later on}
HMV - sinking so fast its actually getting stronger.
Andrew/BE - All food retailers getting a boost from higher food prices which are instantly passed on, as opposed to clothing where they cutting margin as well as increasing price.
Anon. Hmmm, not ure about going back into France either. they already have good food supermarkets. But their ready meals and fast frozen aren't a patch on M&S.
+ M&S clothing is not that superior to the very many more french independents and own brand Hypermarkets.
Land Rover's doing OK thank you very much! Retailers down, exporters up: a very healthy rebalancing if you ask me!
ReplyDeleteM&S also have a few outlets in Malaysia, but they tend to use European prices which put a lot of the locals off buying their stuff as they can get reasonably (ie cheaper but of similar quality) priced decent gear for rather less. Likewise with their (limited) foodstuffs range - mainly biscuits and similar - which are over-priced when compared to similar products in local supermarkets.
ReplyDeleteHow much to sink into Marks and Sparks and for how long?
ReplyDeleteBQ:
ReplyDeleteThere was a segemnt in program on R4 recently about frozen food ( the food program iirc ). In there it mentioned that the frozen market in France / the continent is well developed and not seen as downmarket and by exclusion, the chilled sector never developed as it did in the uk.
Whether this is a good thing for m&S is another question.
Some M & S food is made in the same factories as most other supermarkets, but the recipes are slightly different and the packaging is more expensive. I have seen it.
ReplyDeleteYou think I'm against M & S? You're right. I knew a UK clothing manufacturer some years ago who was in despair because of his main customer ... M & S drove him into the ground, then just sourced from abroad.
Blue - Remember this is not just food ... it's M&S food.
ReplyDeleteYing Tong Iddle: Start on the luxury biscuits for the rich, then reel in the middle classes.
ReplyDeleteBE: Need a balanced economy. Over reliance on one sector has been our downfall throughout the post war period. Probably longer if we go back to our world weaving domination.
JH: Usual caveats.Shares can go tits up as well as nose dive down.
Andrew: I find supermarkets like carrefour, equivalent to our TECSO have much better veg,fish,meat,poultry,dairy than even the most upmarket UK supermarkets.
But on frozen they are Iceland/Asda standard. Cheap, easy meals. 3 frozen turkey meals for £5 sort of thing.
Its a market that i'm sure M+S with its superior ready meals can infiltrate. I expect M&S HQ believe France is their spiritual home
IIRC their French debacle coincided with a big downturn at M&S UK, and a very negative press campaign against them, + french labour laws,30 hr week - 4 day weekends etc. I think it was easier to pull out than make a few redundant. Sarkozy has made some changes since. Still..France is a risk.
Budgie: Same thing happened to an uncle. About 30 years ago. Virtually wiped out
ReplyDeleteOn the flip CU has a story of a school friend who became a millionaire after his business failed so badly he was reduced to selling door to door to clear stock and happened to knock on an M+S buyer's door.
EK: You sound like Mrs Quango.
ReplyDeleteOut with my brother in law the other week, when the girls wanted 'to eat ..ohh! ..lets go to XXXX' he remarked to me,
"Do you remember when they were happy with the food court in Bromley mall?"