Norman Barrington
22 May 2018
Re: Store closures Lupo: I just wish that Archie hadn't said that the closures were "vital for the firm's future"... Quite so Lupo, I sometimes wonder if they are trying to create buying opportunities, they certainly don't mind kicking the SP in, that's for sure? I could be hired as a script writer, I would have said"The closures will provide an additional boost to firm's future prospects, by adding further to the tangible progress on the strategy and financial comfort already reflected in the share price and market's view"...
Lupo di mare
22 May 2018
Store closures "22 May 2018A further 14 M&S stores proposed for closure under accelerating Clothing & Home space programme.Over 100 M&S stores to close in total by 2022 as radical transformation plan continues at pace.Fifteen fewer owned Simply Food stores to open this year as Food opening programme is scaled back.M&S today announced the next tranche of UK stores proposed for closure or set to close as it reshapes its UK store estate in line with its target to take at least a third of sales online. M&S will now close over 100 stores in total by 2022, including 21 that have already closed and the 14 stores that are announced today as proposed for closure or set to close. Alongside relocations, conversions, downsizes and the introduction of concessions, these closures will radically reshape M&S’s Clothing & Home space.The next 14 Clothing & Home stores that will close or are proposed for closure in 2018/19 as part of the transformative programme are: Bayswater, Fleetwood Outlet and Newton Abbot Outlet – all three of which will close by the end of July 2018;Clacton and Holloway Road – which will both close by early 2019 to coincide with new nearby Food stores opening;Darlington, East Kilbride, Falkirk, Kettering, Newmarket, New Mersey Speke, Northampton, Stockton and Walsall – all nine of which are proposed for closure and will now enter a period of consultation with all 626 affected employees. Should these stores close, all colleagues would be redeployed or offered redeployment at other stores before redundancy is considered.Sacha Berendji, Retail, Operations and Property Director at Marks & Spencer said, “We are making good progress with our plans to reshape our store estate to be more relevant to our customers and support our online growth plans. Closing stores isn’t easy but it is vital for the future of M&S. Where we have closed stores, we are seeing an encouraging number of customers moving to nearby stores and enjoying shopping with us in a better environment, which is why we’re continuing to transform our estate with pace.”The acceleration of M&S’s UK store estate programme is part of M&S’s wider five-year transformation plan to make M&S special again. Under the plan M&S has the ambition to create fewer, better Clothing & Home stores. These stores will be larger, digitally enabled, better located and more inspirational for customers to shop.They will also be supported by a seamless online experience across all digital channels including mobile and social, and by a conveniently located network of Food stores that offer customers a next-day collect in store service for Clothing & Home purchases."I just wish that Archie hadn't said that the closures were "vital for the firm's future"...
IOMINVESTCOM
22 May 2018
Jefferies: recovery momentum at M&S Jefferies: recovery momentum at M&SShares in Marks & Spencer (MKS) have started to recover and Jefferies believes the strategy at the high street stalwart will ensure it continues.Analyst Niraj Amin retained his ‘buy’ recommendation and target price of 370p on the shares, which rose 3% to 300.4p yesterday.‘A challenging end to M&S full year 2018 is already widely anticipated, so we expect the focus at M&S full-year results to be on strategic progress and the cost of achieving these goals,’ he said.‘The shares have recovered c.10% over the past week to 9.8x price/earnings ratio and we seek further tangible progress on the strategy and financial comfort to build out conviction.’However, risks remains from a ‘UK consumer slowdown, execution risk during the shift in space from clothing to food, inflation, [and] rebasing food gross margin’.[link]
IOMINVESTCOM
22 May 2018
MIDAS SHARE TIPS UPDATE [link]
stutes
20 May 2018
Channel 5 programme on M&S I've just seen a few seconds of a trailer for Channel 5 programme, "Troubles at M&S", to be screened Thursday.
WhoSparticus
20 May 2018
Re: NEW ARTICLE: The week ahead: A big ... Sunday Times is saying 1.1% drop on fashion and 0.2% drop on food (LFL). Predicting another 40 main stroke closures. Looks like my losses are to increase whilst this once great business goes the way of Woolworths.
deepsleeves
19 May 2018
Re: NEW ARTICLE: The week ahead: A big day ... Bought some bedding in M&S Norwich as we happened to be there last weekend. The store was like ghost. Cashier who took payment admitted it woud be better if it was busy!!Had some of M&Ss "sweetbay cured smoked salmon" early evening with a bottle of Veuve. The Veuve was as good as ever, The salmon was poor and the 1st smoked salmon I have bought in a while that was not interleaved.Hold out litttle hope for Mondays update and even less for the long term as the dreadful clothing business seems to be bringing the food business down to the same smelly levelGood luck to all who hold thisDeep
II Editor
18 May 2018
NEW ARTICLE: The week ahead: A big day for M&S "It's been a real struggler for years, but shareholders will be watching Marks & Spencer for any sign that the latest turnaround plan is working.Monday 21 MayTrading StatementsBGEO Group, McKay Securities, SigaRocAGM/EGMTBC Bank, Restore, ..."[link]
Gooffy
01 May 2018
walmart Now for Marks
deepsleeves
30 Apr 2018
Re: Sainsbury/Asda aiming to cut 10% off som... Not sure how the mooted 10% price cut can happen without reducing the profitability of Sbry/Asda as Mike Coup also promised no store closures or job reductions.As the retailer generally has a higher margin than suppliers then to fund that from suppliers via lower prices does not seem feasible as any benefits from increased scale likely to be small, particularly as they plan to run the chains independantly.Sounds suspisiciously like our previous Chairman claiming a weaker £ would not mean price increases...Easy to make these statements much harder to deliver over time.Deep
Lupo di mare
30 Apr 2018
Re: Sainsbury and Asda in talks Now you're talking, games
stutes
30 Apr 2018
Sainsbury/Asda aiming to cut 10% off some prices CEO of Sainsbury's reckons the merger with Asda will cut everyday items by 10%, suggests to me that prices at M&S could be squeezed as well.
gamesinvestor
30 Apr 2018
Re: Sainsbury and Asda in talks Lupo, how about flogging the food and the clothing and just keep the coffee shops, then with the proceeds of the sale, buy Whitbread, keep the tired old Costa coffee shops and then offload Premier Inn. The big 4 accounting leeches will have a field day.Games
Lupo di mare
30 Apr 2018
Re: Sainsbury and Asda in talks Forget that, rubbish idea.
Lupo di mare
30 Apr 2018
Re: Sainsbury and Asda in talks stutes - " Would Waitrose consider merging with M&S or Co-op?"No doubt all sorts of tie-ups will be on the cards. How about M&S flogging their food outlets to Waitrose/JL and concentrating on clothing with less debt?
