Partner Article

Marks and Spencer report decline in profits

Marks and Spencer have reported a decline in pre-tax profits, which was attributed to a tough retail environment.

Pre-tax profits from the year to the end of March were £658 million, a 16% drop from last year’s figure of £781 million.

Like for like UK sales and UK food sales were up by 0.3% and 2.1% respectively, but general merchandise sales fell by 1.8%.

In the UK sales were £8.9 billion, an increase of 1.5% on the previous year, while international sales were up by 5.8% to just over £1 billion.

The retailer’s chief executive Marc Bolland has set a target in November 2010 to increase sales by between £1.5 billion and £2.5 billion over three years, however this has been scaled back to between £1.1 billion and £1.7 billion.

Despite this the business is still expanding, with plans to open around 100 international stores a year.

Last month the retailer admitted that they were running out of stock in some of its best-selling women’s’ wear line, which contributed to a sales drop.

Mr Bolland added that the company had done well in consideration of the current economic climate. He added: “Marks and Spencer performed well in a challenging environment.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .