Marks And Spencer Share Discussion Threads

[essentialinvestor] 26/5/2016 10:41

My better half has work based scheme which offers a 9% discount on MKS
purchases, not sure if it applies to non food, but in any case I tend
to shop around 8-9 pm in the evening, usually some very nice reductions
at that time, the card still takes the 9% off, even if the item has
already been reduced by 70% - can't think of many other retailers
who would allow that to happen.

[essentialinvestor] 26/5/2016 10:38

Over 7,000,000 shares traded already, oh my.

[bigbertie] 26/5/2016 10:32

The M&S clothing stores I visit remind me of the 1950s. Large halls with white ceilings and neon lights, the displays consist of plain racks of coat hangars, which look miserable compared with shops like White Stuff, Fat Face etc. And the focus on "older" people is disastrous, most people in their 70s nowadays are active, well travelled and fashion conscious, and buy their clothes in trendy shops or even abroad. I see little change in 20 years despite all the new bosses and initiatives. With the shares below 400p Green will be preparing for another bid soon......
All just IMHO, but it's so frustrating. [Actually I haven't been in an M&S clothing store for over a year, but sales figures suggest not much has changed.]

[flaton2000] 26/5/2016 10:00

GO there...

[flaton2000] 26/5/2016 09:59

Medium term (possibly short term) No brainer, divi plus special must be the best part of 5% at this price, hold for another 12 months and same again, 9 to 10% in a year,for doing nothing!
As regards Broker downgrades, do we really want to there?

For a whole bunch of customers this is still a very good business.

[diku] 26/5/2016 09:53

Waiting for it come down to 360p - 370p range..

[libertine] 26/5/2016 08:33

Would make himself look a bit stupid if he declares a special dividend, and then can`t maintain normal dividends.

Don`t forget to add back the £200m of one off exceptionals before calculating the dividend cover.

[essentialinvestor] 26/5/2016 08:19

Just holding above the 12 month low, for now at least.

[scottishfield] 25/5/2016 22:10

Have u sold phil?

[philanderer] 25/5/2016 22:04

Covered just 1.4 times.

Not sustainable unless margins improve dramatically

[dlku] 25/5/2016 19:08

"Today we announce a proposed final dividend for 2015/16 of 11.9p resulting in a full year dividend of 18.7p, up 3.9% on last year and broadly in line with underlying profit growth. As part of our ongoing programme of enhanced returns, we are also announcing a special dividend of 4.6p per share (c.GBP75 million) for the first half of the 2016/17 year. This will be paid to shareholders in July

[doodlebug4] 25/5/2016 18:13

The food is great, the wine selection is great, home furnishings are ok, but clothes are mostly - apart from their Per Una range - pretty awful. It's good to see their food range at service stations now and that part of the business seems to be going well. M&S will always have a following in this country, it's a British Institution, so it's surely not rocket science to figure out what makes it tick.:-)

[death by donut] 25/5/2016 18:06

Well it cant be 'just any turn around plan'.DbD

[philanderer] 25/5/2016 18:01

Dividend cover around 1.4 now and the share price back to where it was when the PG bid was mooted ...around 15 years ago ?

A sad ruderless ship going nowhere fast. 36 million traded today and could be another 10% to come off yet.

A rubbish day.

[panic investor] 25/5/2016 17:51

Stop doing cloths and just do food - no brainer - been saying it for years - their food is superb

[panic investor] 25/5/2016 17:49

How many turnaround plans will this lot need ?

[libertine] 25/5/2016 17:46

New boss `kitchen sinking`--- £200m one-off costs. --- Underlying profits up.


Revenue for the M&S group as a whole rose 2.4% over the year to £10.6bn.

The turnaround plans were announced as M&S reported its annual results, with underlying profits in the year to 2 April rising 4.3% to £689m.

However, statutory profits, the measure all companies must provide, fell 18.5% to £488.8m after taking into account one-off costs of £200m.

The group has continued to follow tradition with its food division outperforming the market, posting a 0.2pc lift in like-for-like sales, while its clothing arm suffered a 2.9pc slide during the year.

[death by donut] 25/5/2016 17:26

Better performing pants would be a start!!DbD :-)

[bookbroker] 25/5/2016 16:53

Problem is the co. appears rudderless, food division may be doing ok, but the larger apparel side is basically screwed, they need to franchise the clothing areas within the store like John Lewis and reduce their own brand offering, it is still a middle market operation with some good lines, but too many duffers, the co. has become too unwieldy for its own good, time to start closing the underperforming stores within the chain and free up capital to invest in the better performing parts!

[essentialinvestor] 25/5/2016 16:39

Almost 12 months ago to the day MKS hit £6.00 a share,
what a difference a year makes.

[essentialinvestor] 25/5/2016 16:23

I added some KGF on the mid afternoon dip, still not bought here.

The main fund manager at MRCH referred to MKS recently as .. exceptional
value, not sure what the share price was when he made that comment!.

[cwa1] 25/5/2016 16:17

Afternoon. Just taken a few at £4 as a bit of a medium term punt. The madness of holding too much cash finally got to me ;-)

[essentialinvestor] 25/5/2016 14:20

cape, agree however dividend cover is falling, it depends if they can
turnaround non food and at what margin.

To announce a special dividend in this context is la la land stuff imv,
a little like the previous buy back at significantly higher share price levels.

It does not give me much confidence in the CEO, all just IMV only.