Marks And Spencer Share Discussion Threads

[philanderer] 15/1/2023 00:22

... and M&S could pay dividends


Remember when Marks & Spencer could do no wrong? When profits seemed to rise almost effortlessly from year to year and the business was a byword for success.

Those days seem a long way away. The shares have gyrated for the past three decades and, at £1.46, they are now worth less than they were in the early 1990s.

The company has been trying to regain its halo for years, egged on by millions of shoppers, particularly those of a certain age, who remember M&S in its glory days. But there have been successive mishaps – underinvestment in online shopping, tired-looking stores and dowdy clothes that failed to chime with the modern consumer.

The group has hired many a retail guru to try to move the business into the modern era. Last week chief executive Stuart Machin boldly suggested these efforts are bearing fruit.

Like-for-like sales rose 7.2 per cent in the three months to December 31, with revenues from clothing and home up almost 9 per cent and market share growing to more than 10 per cent – a sevenyear high.

The much-loved food division delivered growth of 6.3 per cent, but also gained market share, with shoppers particularly excited by both Remarksable bargains and the Collection luxury range. Machin, a career retailer who became chief executive last May, is clearly pleased with the figures.

Recognising that economic headwinds and cost pressures cannot be ignored, he seems confident that M&S can make progress by upping its game on the clothing front, upgrading stores, improving its online effort and cutting costs.

For long-suffering shareholders, recovery cannot come fast enough. Not only has the stock underperformed for years but the group paid its last dividend in January 2020.

There are hints that this could change when M&S reports annual figures in May.

The company has cut debt substantially, while sales and profits are well ahead of earlier lows.

City analysts now hope for a dividend of around 4.75p this year, rising to 5.2p in 2024.

Midas verdict: Marks & Spencer shares have consistently disappointed but there has been a shift in sentiment over recent months, with the stock rising from 93p to £1.46 since October. If Machin continues to deliver progress, the price should make further gains from here, while the prospect of dividend payments could further boost the stock. Existing shareholders should stick with the business. Brave investors may even choose to dip their toes in the water at current levels.

[philanderer] 14/1/2023 00:19

Ocado will shine a light on changing shopping habits when it announces its trading update for the all-important festive period on Tuesday.

[diku] 13/1/2023 22:07

Post 12688...they very cleverly massage what they say...valid for that particular moment...


Strange comments from TESCO CEO yesterday he said customers were spending as normal post Christmas but for months the company has been saying customers watching every penny and trading down. So which is it ?

[darrin1471] 13/1/2023 13:32

ONS revisions are normally only 0.1%.
December GDP has to be -0.6 to make a negative quarter. I would wager it will be significantly positive due to poor Dec 21.
If Q4 2022 is positive growth then you can not get a technical recession until July 23 ONS announcement.

[debsdowner] 13/1/2023 12:58

darin, if you look back at the ONS figures over 3 months they have had to be revised a number of times and at the moment UK is dipping in and out of a technical recession. I think its a two stage economy the poor getting poorer and the rich doing OK.

MARKS may be fortunate most people who shop there are doing OK, but saying that energy costs must be hitting the majority the middle to higher class having bigger houses.

[philanderer] 13/1/2023 11:52

Citigroup raises Marks & Spencer price target to 150 (125) pence - 'neutral'

Barclays raises Marks & Spencer price target to 165 (155) pence - 'overweight'

Goldman Sachs raises Marks & Spencer price target to 145 (130) pence - 'sell'

SocGen raises Marks & Spencer price target to 140 (118) pence - 'hold'

JPMorgan raises Marks & Spencer price target to 115 (100) pence - 'underweight'

[darrin1471] 13/1/2023 10:50

Positive Q4 GDP will end talk in the media of a technical recession for 6 months.

[debsdowner] 13/1/2023 10:46

Strange comments from TESCO CEO yesterday he said customers were spending as normal post Christmas but for months the company has been saying customers watching every penny and trading down. So which is it ?

[darrin1471] 13/1/2023 10:43

GDP needs to be -0.6% in Dec 22 to give a negative Q2 and a technical recession.
Very unlikely IMO
GDP fell by 0.2% in December 2021. Services output was down 0.5% mainly driven by a 3.7% fall in retail trade.
In Dec 22 we know retail and pubs did well vs Dec 21 when we were hit by Omicron.

[ccsicemanandrew] 13/1/2023 10:31

MKS so has been higher every day since 3rd Jan.Only reason it didnt get a bigger boost was the market expected a forecast for rise in profits rather than we should hit our forecast.

[debsdowner] 13/1/2023 10:19

Economy performed better than analysts forecasts so shares in general getting a boost and if the economy doesn't shrink as much as the analysts forecasts I can see an improvement in retail shares.

But we cannot see into the future unfortunately, the market however seems to be bullish on MARKS today up 3% and its highest for 9 months.

[diku] 13/1/2023 09:27

Go with the seasonal flow...don't over think...

[netcurtains] 13/1/2023 08:02

"if" there is a recession next year, and christmas is not for 12 months, I cant see M&S doing great in food again for a while.
However the share price might go up significantly more (over shoot) before it comes down again.
So really I dont know.

[darrin1471] 12/1/2023 23:46

debs "I still think most of the retailers are now over valued"

MKS included? Apart from recent lows, MKS is at it lowest valuation since 1990. Are they that bad?
"most" Fancy naming any names?

[diku] 12/1/2023 20:42

FTSE is a distorted 3 tier index...AZN (pharmas), Miners and Oilys...all these 3 sectors got pumped up last few months...if you look at AZN is at all time highs...Miners are close to or all time highs...Oily shares had a good run...now the laggard sectors are catching up...also the new year seasonal effect playing out...

[creditcrunchies] 12/1/2023 19:12

There's something else these same analysts are saying we're in a bear market, well you do not get an all time record high the FTSE index in a bear market. Once you get past the 0.786 fib retracement from the low of 4700 ish to the previous ATH that's mega bullish.

[creditcrunchies] 12/1/2023 19:04

I don't know where these analysts get their doom from the M&S near me is absolutely rammed every weekend they have an overflow car park where over Xmas you had to go round and round until you found a spare parking space. Obviously some areas of the UK aren't as affluent but I do know this during the financial crisis the shops around here during Christmas of 2008 were quite empty they had loads of staff on the tills most of which were twiddling their thumbs waiting for a customer. It's certainly not as bad as analysts have priced in.

[xxxxxy] 12/1/2023 18:05

Suits are back, Marks & Spencer has said, as sales of formalwear jumped 40pc after workers started returning to the office.M&S stopped selling suits in many of its stores in 2021 amid a slump in demand caused by the pandemic and the rise of working from home.However, the company has now seen a major rise in sales of suits and smart casual garments as more staff return to workplaces.Sales of mens' suits were up 28pc over the 13 weeks to Dec 31 compared with the same period last year.Victoria McKenzie-Gould, director of corporate affairs at M&S, said: "Suiting is up, [but it's] a kind of slightly more modern take on what you might wear to the office."She added certain smart casual items such as jersey blazers were proving popular... Daily Telegraph

[debsdowner] 12/1/2023 15:56

Liam Hallagan on GB news mentioned TESCO and MARKS Christmas sales were not as bumper as the RNS indicated due to cost of inflation which is nearer 10% to 13%, you strip out inflation and sales have fallen over 3% or possibly 5% dependant on which figures you look at.

I still think most of the retailers are now over valued on a possibility of worse to come.

[debsdowner] 12/1/2023 13:17

N Brown sees sales decline 7.6% over Christmas

[philanderer] 12/1/2023 11:19

Tesco and M&S see sales soar over Christmas