MKS.L - Marks and Spencer Group plc
| Previous close | 100.30 |
| Open | 100.70 |
| Bid | 97.76 x 0 |
| Ask | 98.02 x 0 |
| Day's range | 96.84 - 104.20 |
| 52-week range | 73.90 - 236.50 |
| Volume | 21,976,153 |
| Avg. volume | 18,730,229 |
| Market cap | 1.932B |
| Beta (5Y monthly) | N/A |
| PE ratio (TTM) | 82.55 |
| EPS (TTM) | N/A |
| Earnings date | N/A |
| Forward dividend & yield | N/A (N/A) |
| Ex-dividend date | 14 Nov 2019 |
| 1y target est | N/A |
- Yahoo Finance UK
What to watch: Experian tops the FTSE, M&S profit falls, and inflations crashes
A daily overview of the top business, market, and economic stories to watch in the UK, Europe, and abroad.
- Yahoo Finance UK
Coronavirus: Marks & Spencer profits sink 21% as stores shut and clothing sales drop
M&S has furloughed thousands of staff and expects the coronavirus to wipe £1.5bn off revenue as clothing sales have collapsed with stores shut.
- Reuters
M&S to speed up latest reinvention in 'never the same again' plan
British retailer Marks & Spencer said the coronavirus crisis would indelibly change its business and that it would accelerate its turnaround, as the high street stalwart seeks to reinvent itself anew after a decade of failed revivals. CEO Steve Rowe said it would speed up those measures under a programme it labelled "never the same again".
- Yahoo Finance UK
Coronavirus: Aldi partners with Deliveroo for online orders
Aldi will trial home delivery from its Daleside Road store in Nottingham and expand to the East Midlands from June if successful.
- Bloomberg
J.C. Penney Bankruptcy May Not Buy Enough Time
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- When research firm GlobalData surveyed Americans on which stores they were most looking forward to visiting once the Covid-19 pandemic subsided, one household name came out near the bottom, and well below its department-store peers: J.C. Penney. That helps to explain Friday’s late news that the retailer — which began life in 1902 as a store called The Golden Rule — filed for bankruptcy protection. Pushed to the brink by the coronavirus shutdowns, J.C. Penney Co. was seemingly left with no other choice. But years of struggle and strategic missteps had laid the groundwork.After securing $900 million of financing, J.C. Penney will stay open for now, and its next steps include closing some stores, cutting its debt by several billion dollars and looking at alternatives including a sale. Despite those planned survival efforts, it’s hard to see J.C. Penney having a vibrant future.Even before the coronavirus crisis, the retailer, with just under 850 stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, had battled to be relevant to shoppers. Changing consumer tastes and incursions from online sellers wreaked havoc on its sales. And so now, unlike in the case of luxury department-store chain Neiman Marcus Group Inc., which also filed for bankruptcy this month, there may be little for a potential acquirer to pick up.The downfall of J.C. Penney — a chain that grew out of a single store opened 118 years ago in Kemmerer, Wyoming by James Cash Penney — is part and parcel with the long, slow decline of the department store. The concept had its heyday from the end of the Second World War through to the 1980s. Often starting life downtown as Americans moved to the suburbs, these venerable names followed, opening in newly built malls. They focused largely on clothing and the items needed to furnish the homes that Americans were buying. Amid the age of mass car ownership, they were more than happy to drive to these retail attractions.For many years, J.C. Penney was known as a family department store. If not somewhere Americans aspired to shop, it offered good value, and solid styles. In fact, it was a bit like Britain’s Marks & Spencer Group Plc, the sort of place you went for back-to-school gear and basics. But at least M&S sold food — because by the 1980s, the environment for department stores was already darkening. In 1988, Walmart opened its first super-center, adding groceries to its non-food selection to encourage more regular visits. At the same time Target Inc., another mass merchant that combined clothing, home furnishings and groceries, was quietly expanding across the U.S.The mid-market, which J.C. Penney had traditionally occupied, was under attack, not just from discounters, but later the internet, which was rapidly displacing department stores as the one-stop shop, and with cheaper, more transparent pricing.By 2011, in an effort to reinvent itself, J.C. Penney appointed Ron Johnson, an executive from Apple Inc. who built the tech giant’s much-admired retail network. Some of his ideas – a communal space in stores for yoga classes and coffee bars and food stands dotted throughout – were directionally right, even if they never got off the ground. Other concepts did come to fruition and were disastrous, such as ditching the coupons that had driven much of J.C. Penney’s traffic.When Johnson was ousted in 2013, the company apologized to customers in a television commercial: “We learned a very simple thing – to listen to you,” it said in the ad. “Come back to J.C. Penney.” Unfortunately, they never did to the same extent.While subsequent leaders Marvin Ellison, now chief executive of home-improvement chain Lowe’s Cos Inc., and current CEO Jill Soltau made progress, the company has yet to regain its stride. It has grappled with messy stores, and a lower proportion of online sales — around 20% — compared with 26% at Macy’s and 33% at Nordstrom.Most recently, Soltau had cut discounting and reduced the amount of stock the chain carries. She also ditched the electrical appliances that Ellison introduced and sought to strengthen Penney’s core clothing offering. But her efforts, however valiant, were no match for weeks of stores being closed. The group was also burdened with net debt of $4.5 billion, including store lease liabilities of just under 8 times Ebitda as of Feb. 1. Penney said late Friday that it owed creditors $8 billion.With the company less constricted by debt, it may be possible for Soltau to turbocharge her recovery plan, which already includes rejuvenating locations. A store in Hurst, Texas shows the way, with a much-improved layout as well as styling, cafes, a fitness center and a barber shop. Soltau insists it’s not a prototype, but with more investment freedom she may be able to inject elements into other stores. She also had already begun to pare back J.C. Penney’s store base. More locations will close, in phases. Stacey Widlitz of SW Retail Advisors estimates J.C. Penney’s footprint could shrink to just 150 stores. Even so, it’s hard to see how the retailer can stave off dwindling mall traffic if nervous shoppers stay home. Distinguishing itself from other mid-market rivals such as Macy’s Inc., which has its own plans for reinvention, will be another challenge.A financial restructuring isn’t a panacea. For retailers to make it through such a process and flourish, there must be a revival of the operating business, too. It’s far from clear whether J.C. Penney — or any new owner — can pull that off. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Andrea Felsted is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the consumer and retail industries. She previously worked at the Financial Times.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters
Britain's M&S ties up with health service for huge clothing sale
British retailer Marks & Spencer launched a clothing sale on Thursday to help clear stock built up in the coronavirus lockdown, tapping into widespread public support for health workers by giving some proceeds to NHS charities. With Britain having been in lockdown since March 23, the country's store-based clothing retailers are sitting on hundreds of millions of pounds of spring and summer stock, which they are now looking to unload as the restrictions start to ease. M&S, Britain's biggest clothing retailer by sales, said it will donate 10% of the customer purchase price, excluding VAT sales tax, of all sale items to NHS Charities Together, with whom the retailer has an exclusive arrangement.
- Reuters
Marks & Spencer to reopen cafes for takeaway as lockdown eases
British retailer Marks & Spencer will begin to reopen its cafes to offer takeaway hot drinks, it said on Wednesday as the country tentatively began easing its coronavirus lockdown. M&S, which operates at total of 420 cafes across the United Kingdom, said it will reopen 49 cafe locations from Thursday. All its cafes have been closed since March 18, five days before the country went on lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.
- Reuters - UK Focus
Britain's M&S to reopen cafes for takeaway as lockdown eases
British retailer Marks & Spencer will begin to reopen its cafes to offer takeaway hot drinks, it said on Wednesday as the country tentatively began easing its coronavirus lockdown. M&S, which operates at total of 420 cafes across the United Kingdom, said it will reopen 49 cafe locations from Thursday. All its cafes have been closed since March 18, five days before the country went on lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.
- Bloomberg
U.K. Lockdown Sent Retail Sales Plunging Almost 20% in April
(Bloomberg) -- U.K. retail sales dropped in April by the most in at least a quarter of a century, according to industry figures that outline the impact of the shutdown on stores.The British Retail Consortium said total sales fell 19.1% in April from a year earlier, the most since its monitor began in 1995. In a further sign of the damage done by the lockdown, a Barclaycard measure of consumer spending fell 36.5% last month.On the consortium’s like-for-like measure, which excludes temporarily closed stores, sales were up 5.7% in April. But most of that growth came from online shopping, which surged almost 60%.Online demand was driven by entertainment products and home-related goods, with computing equipment, household gadgets, toys and baby equipment performing strongly, according to the report. Clothing experienced a significant decline.Figures due later on Wednesday are forecast to show the U.K. economy shrank in the first quarter, reflecting the imposition of virus-related restrictions. The slump is likely to deepen this quarter, and the government is extending aid programs to help support workers and businesses.All British retailers have been affected by the lockdown. Even grocers and other shops deemed essential that have been allowed to continue operating have had to absorb higher costs as they implement social distancing and other measures.Under PressurePrimark, the value clothing chain owned by Associated British Foods Plc, has said the closure of all its shops is costing 650 million pounds ($800 million) of lost revenue a month. Marks & Spencer Group Plc has cut its dividend to preserve cash and weather the crisis. Next Plc reported a 41% plunge in full-price sales in the quarter ended April 25 and said business would remain under pressure for the rest of the year.Nearly all retailers have withdrawn financial guidance for the year.The lockdown has been “catastrophic” for retailers, the consultancy group BDO LLP said last week, adding that even the strongest online sales ever wouldn’t be able to offset the impact. Consumer behavior has changed drastically during lockdown, and retailers will need to adapt as they start to reopen, according to Sophie Michael, head of retail and wholesale at BDO.“With such a significant amount of spend removed, retailers will be focusing on preserving cash, engaging their customers through online channels, and building operational efficiency,” Michael said.(Updates with detail on retailers starting in sixth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
Lenders Offer Breathing Room for U.K. Stores But No Magic Wand
(Bloomberg) -- Lenders are giving U.K. retailers some breathing room amid the coronavirus outbreak, but the stores’ struggles are unlikely to end as soon as the lockdown lifts.Next Plc, Marks & Spencer Plc and Associated British Foods Plc, owner of Primark, have all managed to waive covenants on their debt in recent weeks, ensuring lenders won’t demand repayment if terms aren’t met. Other retailers, including Matalan, are in talks to obtain more funding.Creditors to the U.K. high street have a difficult decision on their hands. Refusing help to retailers during the lockdown may trigger their collapse, leading to thousands of job losses. But many retailers were already in trouble before the onset of the coronavirus as customers moved toward on-line shopping.“I don’t think lenders have a choice really,” said Olivier Monnoyeur, a portfolio manager at BNP Paribas Asset Management, which oversees more than 400 billion euros ($438 billion) of assets. “You want to give a covenant holiday to the retailer and let the storm pass, and then eventually figure out later who the winners and losers are.”M&S declined to comment for this article and pointed to a previous statement about its move to secure liquidity. A Next spokesman highlighted its Q1 trading statement which emphasized that the company can “operate comfortably within its cash resources.”An ABF spokesperson wrote that the company is “confident it has the financial headroom to meet the challenges ahead.” Matalan declined to comment.In recent weeks the list of troubled retailers filing for administration has grown to include fashion chains Laura Ashley, Oasis and Warehouse, as well as department store Debenhams.“You have to be pretty brave to be invested in non-food retail right now,” Monnoyeur said, adding that the high-yield team at the asset manager is “very cautious” on the sector.Lifting LockdownLenders and retailers are both focusing on when the lockdown will lift and how. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to set out a plan for how businesses and schools will re-open this week.But retailers do not expect demand to snap back when stores do reopen, as shoppers fear exposure to the virus. More than a quarter of consumers surveyed by Retail Economics said that the coronavirus would have a “permanent impact” on the way they shop.Among the developments last week, M&S said it managed to relax covenants on its 1.1 billion pound revolving credit facility and Next’s banks agreed to waive debt tests until January. ABF gained the same reprieve for its debt covenants in February.Sofa-retailer DFS Furniture Plc agreed a new 12-month bank facility of 70 million pounds last month and in the meantime, terms on its debt will fall away. DFS declined to comment for this article but highlighted a previous press release noting its “financial resilience”.“There is an onus on lenders to be as lenient as possible,” said Neill Keaney, an analyst at CreditSights in London. “There does seem to be a willingness not to push a business over, certainly from the bank lending point of view.”The U.K. government and financial regulators have urged banks to keep lending to companies and to be lenient when it comes to potential covenant breaches. But many stores are still struggling to access state-run loan programs.“Lenders are generally being reasonable with the larger Plcs who have a plan for surviving and exiting the crisis,” said Charles Allen, a retail analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Some smaller retailers, on the other hand, have not been extended credit, he said.Landlords are also feeling the pain as many retailers seek rent holidays to ride out the lockdown. The coronavirus outbreak will trigger as much as 10 billion pounds of losses and write-offs on loans tied to U.K. stores and malls, according to a survey of lenders by Cass Business School last month.And while the retailers themselves may keep their heads above water with VAT deferrals as well as holidays from rent and business rates, those temporary respites will all add to their overall debt pile.Many people have a vested interest in keeping troubled firms going because pulling the plug would expose their own “deficiencies in judgment”, according to Richard Hyman, an independent retail consultant.“It’s much easier and seductive to think we’ll put a bit more money in and kick the can down the road,” he said.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Yahoo Finance UK
Coronavirus: Marks & Spencer scraps £210m dividend as it plots COVID-19 survival path
M&S said it would save £210m by axing its annual dividend, as part of efforts to 'maximise liquidity' during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
- Reuters
Marks & Spencer strengthens liquidity to cope with coronavirus impact
The retailer said on Tuesday that its planning was based on it enduring subdued trading for the rest of this year in its clothing and home business, as it warned that its food division had been impacted by fewer people travelling into city centres. M&S said that it had significant undrawn credit available for the next 18 months to deal with worst case scenarios on trading. The retailer said it did not anticipate paying a dividend for the 2020-21 financial year, saving it 210 million pounds of cash.
- Reuters - UK Focus
Global garment industry calls for support for manufacturers
A group of employers' organisations, unions and major brands in the garment industry are working with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to support manufacturers affected by the coronavirus outbreak, the ILO said on Wednesday. Under the agreement, brands and retailers commit to paying manufacturers for finished goods and goods in production, the organisation said in a statement.
- Fool.co.uk
A P/E ratio of 8 times! Is this FTSE 250 stock too cheap for ISA investors to ignore?
This FTSE 250 stock trades at dirt-cheap prices today. Royston Wild explains why it could end up costing ISA investors a fortune though.The post A P/E ratio of 8 times! Is this FTSE 250 stock too cheap for ISA investors to ignore? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.
- Yahoo Finance UK
M&S donates uniform to NHS Nightingale staff
M&S is donating thousands of specially branded T-shirts to form part of the uniform pack for the frontline team at the new NHS Nightingale hospital in London.
- Reuters - UK Focus
LIVE MARKETS-Southern European banks' risk premium bound to be high
You can share your thoughts with Thyagaraju Adinarayan (thyagaraju.adinarayan@thomsonreuters.com), Joice Alves (joice.alves@thomsonreuters.com) and Julien Ponthus (julien.ponthus@thomsonreuters.com) in London. Risk premiums on Southern European banks is bound to remain high, unless a European deal to share the burden of public debt due to the coronavirus takes place, Jefferies analysts say.
- Reuters - UK Focus
LIVE MARKETS-What Brexit?
You can share your thoughts with Thyagaraju Adinarayan (thyagaraju.adinarayan@thomsonreuters.com), Joice Alves (joice.alves@thomsonreuters.com) and Julien Ponthus (julien.ponthus@thomsonreuters.com) in London. Since the referendum in 2016, the UK's process to leave the European Union was a top concern for investors, until Covid-19 happened. The sentiment is still fragile in London due to Boris Johnson's hospitalisation but stocks meanwhile are riding on the global risk-on wave as infection/death rate slows.
- Reuters - UK Focus
LIVE MARKETS-Highly leveraged EU companies are missing the rebound party?
You can share your thoughts with Thyagaraju Adinarayan (thyagaraju.adinarayan@thomsonreuters.com), Joice Alves (joice.alves@thomsonreuters.com) and Julien Ponthus (julien.ponthus@thomsonreuters.com) in London. Futures are pointing to an open in the black for European bourses on hopes the coronavirus crisis may be receding in some of the worst hit countries across the region.
- Yahoo Finance UK
Union calls on Marks and Spencer to protect workers from coronavirus
GMB Union has called on Marks and Spencer to protect workers from coronavirus, while condemning DHL which runs the warehouse where staff members staged two walk outs.
- Bloomberg
As the Virus Worsens, Garment Workers Get the Shaft
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- As fashion retailers shutter their storefronts across Europe and North America due to the coronavirus, some of the world's most vulnerable workers are feeling the pain — and getting shafted.In Bangladesh, garment factories have already furloughed more than 1 million workers thanks to at least $3 billion in canceled and postponed orders. Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, a key hub for apparel production, the toll is multiplying as quickly as the virus is spreading. If left unaddressed, the crisis could endanger the lives and livelihoods of millions more of the region’s workers.For decades, the apparel industry has had something of a devil’s bargain in Southeast Asia. Western companies have accepted the reputational risk that comes with capitalizing on the region’s low-wage labor, while local governments have tolerated poor factory conditions in return for jobs and growth. In some respects, the benefits have been undeniable: Last year, Bangladesh's apparel industry generated $35 billion in revenue, accounting for 80% of all export earnings, and employed 4.4 million people.In 2013, however, the human costs of this bargain became plain when Rana Plaza, a complex of garment factories near Dhaka, collapsed and killed at least 1,132 workers. The retailers and brands that had outsourced their production to the region looked for ways to prevent a recurrence while ensuring that outsourcing — and Bangladesh's most important export — could be sustained.The next year, they hit on a solution: independent monitoring and inspection organizations, empowered for five-year terms, with buy-in from government and local businesses. Over the next few years, these watchdogs inspected thousands of factories, shut down those that were in violation of safety standards, and pushed often expensive improvements — everything from installing fire alarms to improving building foundations — on others.Even under ideal conditions, however, this solution was only provisional. Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a report documenting backsliding on labor rights in Bangladesh and elsewhere. But the disruption caused by the new coronavirus could prove to be a tipping point.So far, it’s come in two waves.The first started in February. China supplies the overwhelming majority of raw materials for Southeast Asia's garment makers (60% in the case of Vietnam). As Chinese textile producers shuttered, manufacturers in neighboring countries seized up. In Cambodia, the government recently predicted that 200 garment factories, employing 160,000 workers, could soon face raw-material shortages. Already, 10,000 Cambodian workers have been laid off, and some factory owners are reportedly taking advantage of the crisis to push out unionized employees. Safety standards will likely follow them out the factory doors.The second wave of trouble is just starting. In recent weeks, companies including Irish retailer Primark Ltd., Britain's Marks & Spencer Group Plc and Minneapolis-based Target Corp. have canceled, postponed or declared force majeure on orders for which their Southeast Asian partners have already purchased raw materials, and in some cases even completed work.The situation is so serious that Cambodia and India have made direct appeals to global brands to avoid cancellations and work out payment plans. Few are responding. According to a survey of Bangladesh’s garment factories conducted in March, nearly half had lost "a big share" of their orders. Nearly all buyers, most of whom are located in Europe, have refused to contribute to wages for furloughed workers.In the short term, such steps might help apparel companies weather a downturn. But the last decade should’ve taught them that — at least in the eyes of their customers — they have a deeper responsibility to the workers who manufacture their merchandise. A 2018 survey of consumers in seven countries found that nearly three-quarters of them believed that clothing companies should be held responsible for what happens in their factories and should transparently disclose working conditions. The danger is that the coronavirus gives factory owners and governments an excuse to roll back expensive safety programs and ignore hard-earned progress on wages and working conditions.There’s no easy fix when pain is being shared across an industry — not to mention across the world. But all parties would benefit if retailers and brands committed to a shared responsibility for paying garment workers for completed work, and contributed to a reasonable severance during the inevitable virus-driven slump. On Monday, Swedish fast-fashion giant H&M announced it would take delivery of goods (including those in production), and pay for them. Other brands should follow suit. Doing so will help long-time manufacturing partners who've improved safety standards and workers’ rights to stay in business through the pandemic.Meanwhile, rich-country governments keen to support labor rights in Southeast Asia should maintain preferential trading policies with the goal of supporting the region's workers through a devastating downturn. That should help some of the world's most vulnerable get through the next few months, while ensuring that years of progress made by the global apparel industry isn't left in tatters.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Adam Minter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is the author of “Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade” and the forthcoming "Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale."For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
