Marks And Spencer Share Discussion Threads

[debsdowner] 05/1/2023 15:08

BOOTS also sees strong sales up 15% but bear in mind the previous year had lockdowns and so the sales rise in most retailers must be taken into context



WAITROSE is having a January sales event where customers can save up to 50% on some staples, it would seem most food retailers will find this year a lot more difficult and competition will be fiercer..

[darrin1471] 05/1/2023 14:03

22/12 Superdry who's shops are in shopping centres and high streets reported H1 up to 29/10 were up 14.4% in stores

[fru1tcake] 05/1/2023 13:47

From the BBC article,

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said that High Street staples Greggs, B&M and Next are "united by having a presence on retail parks where business has been better than expected in general".

This is of course where M&S are investing.

[debsdowner] 05/1/2023 13:40

darrin u did well on NEXT up circa 9% at moment, whether it has further to go is another matter profit takers may come in soon most retailers had quite a bounce lately and this year will be difficult. However labour market is tight and that could make a difference.

[darrin1471] 05/1/2023 12:55

Next, B&M and Greggs all back up the idea that the high street did well this Christmas.
Next were up 4.8% Q4 but that does not tell the whole story.
Online +0.2%
Retail +12.5%



Above link to Next shows how sales improved in December as suggested.
Last week October -7%
November +2%, +1%, 0% & 0%
December +8%, +10% and +17%

Next suggested that this was due to the colder weather and less stock last year (logistics). I think you have to add omicron effect from last year and that customers bought earlier in 2021 due to reported shortages and covid worries.

Online is still significantly up on two years ago but has difficult YoY comparatives this Christmas.
Generally online sales fell or were flat in 2022 vs 2021. Going forward from Q2 23 those comparisons should be reasonably easy to beat and the online sector should see a change in sentiment.

High street should see positive YoY growth in Q1 23
Next October/November should be good for high street and December poor. All things being equal.

[debsdowner] 05/1/2023 12:41

BBC business corespondent says NEXT better placed to weather the recession and gives their view on why the retailers may have fared better up to Christmas



WWhat will be more interesting to MARKS is how well John Lewis, TESCO, Sainsburys have done.

If all of the above have done well, then the retail analysts called it wrong shoppers buying less up to Christmas.

However the GOV have paid money out to assist with the clsot of living and many people are saving money on transport costs from WFH.

[qantas] 05/1/2023 12:12

Greggs: Baker on a sausage roll as it plots further expansion across UK

Please do your own research as always.

[qantas] 05/1/2023 11:25

Dear Darrin Please change one of the first letters to a capital for any link to work.



Next, B&M and Greggs see Christmas sales boost despite rising prices



Please do your own research as always.

[darrin1471] 05/1/2023 11:22

Looks a decent move for MKS and centre owner



Google shows Debenhams had their own entrance and adjacent car park which is what MKS want for their foodhalls.
MKS old store is a lot easier for the centre owner to split up into smaller units.

[debsdowner] 05/1/2023 11:00

Marks to move into a former DEBENHAMS store in the Traford Centre in Manchester which is a much larger store making the news store a "Megga Store"

[careful] 05/1/2023 09:35

Amazon to make 18000 redundant.
Amazon Fresh in particular is struggling.

Suddenly the online revolution is being questioned.

Amazon,Apple,Meta.... falling down to earth. Maybe there is a future for MKS after all.
They all have presence online now, but people like to shop.

Clothes and food particular.

[diku] 05/1/2023 09:29

Is that inverted head on the chart...

[xxxxxy] 05/1/2023 09:21

Next surged as much as 7.6pc after raising its pre-tax profit forecast for the current year, pushing the broader retailers index to a more than four-month high.... Daily Telegraph

[creditcrunchies] 05/1/2023 09:15

It's easy to get too negative about stuff the reality is the market positions itself before the green shoots even appear. When they do appear it's already taken off

[diku] 05/1/2023 08:57

Better to under promise and over deliver...NEXT plays it cleverly...

[debsdowner] 05/1/2023 08:55

Retail news today:

"In equity markets, retailer Next surged after it lifted its full-year profit guidance as it reported better-than-expected sales over the Christmas period.

In the nine weeks to 30 December, full price sales rose 4.8% versus last year. This was £66m ahead of the company’s previous guidance of a 2% decline for the period. Next said that both the retail and online segments had exceeded its expectations, with retail "particularly strong".

"We think that we underestimated the negative effect Covid was having on our retail sales last year," it said. "We may have also underestimated the effect improved stock levels would have on both businesses (stock levels were exceptionally low last year as a result of widespread supply chain disruption)."

The company upgraded its full-year pre-tax profit guidance by £20m to £860m, up 4.5% on the year.

Discount retailer B&M also rallied as it upgraded profit expectations and said it would pay a special dividend after a 12.3% rise in third quarter revenue.

The company, with operations in the UK and France, now expects annual adjusted core earnings to be in the range of £560m-580m, ahead of current analysts' consensus estimates of £557m.

Greggs was also in focus after the bakery chain - famous for its sausage rolls - backed its full-year expectations as it posted an 18.2% jump in fourth-quarter like-for-like sales."

Looks like retail has done better than retail analysts forecast for Christmas but there are still bigger retailers yet to report.

NEXT however have indicated lower sales in 2023/24 but have beaten their own expectations the last year and they tend to under estimate going forward.

[darrin1471] 04/1/2023 18:00

Hilco bought Homebase for £1 in 2018

[debsdowner] 04/1/2023 17:06

Retail sales will see sales growth of between 1% and 2.3% which will amount to a fall as inflation will still be between 5% to 7% thi year imo

[debsdowner] 04/1/2023 17:00

darrin,

WILKO was hit due to COVID which is a surprise I thought they remained open but reduced footfall no doubt hit them. They have a loyal customer base however which may save them from going under.

As for Homebase I havent done much research but I thought it was reasonably well run but don't know what their finaces are like.

There are so many discounters now however and not all will survive the next year.

[philanderer] 04/1/2023 16:47

NXT trading update tomorrow

[darrin1471] 04/1/2023 16:26

Wilko £40m lifeline comes via Hilco who own Homebase. A merger would reduce costs. Hilco tried to sell Homebase in 2020.
IMO both Wilko and Homebase look likely to fail and go extinct this decade.

[darrin1471] 04/1/2023 16:09

Asda sales up by 6.4% by value but food inflation is 13.3% so volumes will be down.

[debsdowner] 04/1/2023 15:57

WILKO secures a £40 million lifeline as it reports a £36.8 million loss

[debsdowner] 04/1/2023 15:46

darrin more on sales growth from Kantar

[debsdowner] 04/1/2023 15:43

TESCO is locking prices on 1,000 products until Easter this comes after MORRISONS is to cut prices on many staple products



The supermarkets have probably put up many of their products leading up to Christmas and not surprising they can cut them after Christmas or "lock" them in the case of TESCO which is a marketing gimic.