Marks And Spencer Share Discussion Threads

[old crow] 08/11/2011 18:06

Did the Crows do right.

[essentialinvestor] 08/11/2011 17:46

NXT at £27 is on a PER approx 10x,
at £6 MKS would be on 20x.
Next are also growing profits and dividends.

[spacecake] 08/11/2011 17:37

FWIW, Last year I split my retail holdings between TJX ( TK Maxx)for clothing and home goods and MRW (Morrisons) for food. They seem to be doing a good job of pulling in the cash strapped punters.



At some point in the distant future (when unemployment turns downward)I will look again at MKS.

[essentialinvestor] 08/11/2011 14:56

I was suprised by the initial mark up this morning as the results
did not read well to me.

The issue MKS faces in food going forward is the aggressive UK expansion
by the other food retailers, this will have some impact imv as I do not
consider the MKS offering as distinct enough to keep all current customers.

Waitrose now opening smaller stores as one example of the challenge MKS
face going forward.

[essentialinvestor] 08/11/2011 13:45

UK Food performance is just about good, the rest looks very ordinary to poor
imv.

[alphahunter] 08/11/2011 13:25

Oh Gruss,

I remember you now, you're the one that was squeaking against the "evil shorters" when MKS went down from 400p to 360p in no time. You probably topped at that time too.

[old crow] 08/11/2011 13:16

Have to admit greed got the better of the Crows
the 8k we bought at 314.2 last week we sold this morning at 344.8 p
bringing back a quick 2k plus profit, we will hold our remaining shares
of MKS.

Good luck to all and dont forget, you never lose money taking a profit.
Keep crowing

[gruss] 08/11/2011 12:35

Still holding from £2 and £3. How does that sound matey!

[alphahunter] 08/11/2011 12:04

Woah, that's sounds like the opening bells' comments at CNBC.

[gruss] 08/11/2011 08:06

City seems to like the figures. Good they were expecting the worst because things were not as bad as forecast.

[gruss] 08/11/2011 07:19

Looks a lot better than the analysts were predicting.

[old crow] 08/11/2011 07:18

The Crows reckon considering market conditions cant complain
in fact MKS done rather well, however when it comes to today's share price haven't got a clue

[spob] 08/11/2011 07:07

Half-year results:


• Group sales ex VAT up 2.4% at £4.7bn

• Total UK sales ex VAT +1.6%: General Merchandise -0.8%; Food +3.9%

• Like for like UK sales ex VAT +0.5%: General Merchandise -1.3%; Food +2.1%

• International sales ex VAT +9.0%

• Underlying profit before tax1 £315.2m (last year £348.6m)

• Profit before tax £320.5m (last year £348.6m)

• Underlying basic earnings per share 15.6p1 (last year 16.6p)

• Basic earnings per share 16.0p (last year 16.6p)

• Interim dividend 6.2p per share (last year 6.2p)

• Net debt £1.97bn (last half year £2.2bn)



Operational highlights:

• In General Merchandise we invested in offering customers better value in a highly promotional market

• Strong performance in Food

• Maintained market share2 in Clothing and Food despite tough comparatives

• Managed our cost base tightly

• Delivered more choice in stores through innovation:

- 900 new lines launched in Food

- first ever fast fashion collections introduced in M&S Woman

• M&S Direct sales up 11.7% with over 3 million visits per week

• International sales up 9% with strong LFL growth in key markets

• Good progress with supply chain and IT programme implementation

Progress against the three year plan

• Launched new 'Only at Your M&S' ranges including

- 100 new international food brands

- New Conran and Marcel Wanders collections in Home

· New store segmentation and in-store presentation pilot launched in 15 stores

· M&S brand and all clothing sub-brands re-launched

· French shopping website now live; new Paris store opening before Christmas

· Style Online multimedia shop trial now in 3 stores

· Exclusive new menswear collaborations announced today with Richard James

Marc Bolland, Chief Executive, said:

"Marks & Spencer performed well in the first half. Sales were ahead of last year despite tough comparatives and a challenging economic environment. Our Food business in particular performed strongly. We maintained our share of the Clothing and Food markets.

"In an increasingly promotional environment, we managed costs tightly and took a decision to invest in giving our customers better value, choosing not to pass on the full extent of the increases in commodity prices.

"Against a challenging consumer backdrop, we took decisive action to manage the business through the short term while continuing our focus on investing in creating a stronger platform for future growth.

"We have a very exciting Christmas product offer for our customers with more innovation and choice than ever before."



Current trading and outlook

The second half of the year has started in line with our expectations. We will continue to manage the business for a challenging environment with particular focus on offering great value to our customers and tight control of costs and stock. We remain cautious about the outlook but are well set up for the all important Christmas period.

We will update on our third quarter sales on 10 January 2012.



Guidance

Updated guidance for financial year 2011/12:

· Gross margin is expected to be broadly flat on last year due to ongoing input cost inflation and an increasingly promotional market.

· Operating costs are expected to increase c. 3% as a result of increased depreciation, space growth and inflation, as well as investment in growth initiatives, offset by underlying savings.

· The planned opening of new footage will add c. 2% to UK and c. 10% to International space.

· Group capital expenditure is expected to be around £700-£750m reflecting the latest view of the timing of the UK store update roll out programme.

· Effective tax rate is expected to be 25%.



1 Underlying results are consistent with how the business is measured internally. Adjustments to underlying profit include profit and loss on property disposals, investment property impairment charges, fair value movements on financial instruments and embedded derivatives, one-off pension credits and strategic programme costs which are not considered normal operating costs of the business.

2 Kantar Worldpanel Clothing value share 24 w/e 2 Oct 2011 11.5%; Kantar Worldpanel Food and Drink share 26 w/e 2 Oct 2011 3.6%

[spob] 08/11/2011 06:58

High street bellwether Marks & Spencer is expected to report a drop in profits on Tuesday as it feels the pain inflicted by the storm battering the UK's high streets.

Analysts expect the retailer, which operates 700 stores, to report a 10.8 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to £311million in the six months to the end of September as it struggles to pass on higher prices to cash-strapped customers.

Like-for-like sales of general merchandise sales, which includes clothes and homewares, are expected to slump 2.8 per cent in the half-year, having been flat in the first quarter.

Total like-for-like sales are expected to be down 0.9 per cent, despite a predicted 1.1 per cent increase in food sales. This would mark a dramatic slowdown on the 1.7 per cent increase in the 13 weeks to July 2.
Marks has been hit by the huge number of promotions on offer at both its supermarket and fashion rivals, which has seen its profit margins squeezed as it tries to compete.

Marks started in summer sales a week early this year, in line with the rest of the high street, as retailers slashed prices in a bid to tempt shoppers whose income is being hit by the biggest squeeze on consumer spending in a generation.

The hot weather in September is thought to have hampered an already depressed clothing market by causing shoppers to postpone buying autumn and winter ranges such as coats and jumpers.

Andrew Hughes, an analyst at UBS, said: 'As a UK-focused mainstream clothing retailer and premium food retailer M&S remains to a degree at the mercy of the UK consumer.

'Although consumer confidence has stabilised at a low level, disposable income has deteriorated as inflation continues to increase ahead of earnings.'
Chief executive Marc Bolland recently announced a £600million revamp that it hopes will make its outlets easier to shop in and boost sales of its own brands.

The stores will include 'shops within shops' for each of its brands, such as Per Una, Limited Collection and Autograph, with each benefiting from their own distinctive backdrop. It comes after shoppers complained the stores were difficult to shop in.

Mr Bolland is also planning on turning the stores labels into 'proper brands'.



Read more:

[rumpelstiltskin2] 07/11/2011 17:03

would you buy these and sell NXT in a pairs trade?

[old crow] 02/11/2011 14:45

Just got back MKS Chichester same again, packed out downstairs, glad to get out
hope it's this way in all branches
on the strength of this got back and bought another 8k @ 314.2

[gruss] 30/10/2011 12:46

old crow.

I am very pleased that the so called experts are looking on the negative side.
Last time the results were announced the experts set the barrier high and as such the share price weakend. However previous to that they were preaching doom and gloom for MKS and with the good old Daily mail fanning the gloom the worst was anticipated.

As we know things were alot better than forecast and as such the share price went up to about £4.11. Hoping this may happen again.

Also watch out for Nexts update on Wednesday because this will have an affect on MKS share price. No doubt you are aware of that.

[old crow] 29/10/2011 09:52

Interesting, click the link.



Keep Crowing

[wllmherk] 28/10/2011 23:15

Im tempted too, numbers will be better than expected in my view.

wllm

[purple boots] 28/10/2011 22:10

Chichester was still going strong at 4.30, bought a nice cardi!