Marks And Spencer Share Discussion Threads

[isis] 01/4/2011 08:03

TIDMMKS

RNS Number : 1007E

Marks & Spencer Group PLC

01 April 2011

1 April 2011

MARKS & SPENCER RETURNs TO FRANCE WITH

new 'Bricks & Clicks' strategy

Marks & Spencer today announces that it will return to France towards the end of this year with a combined e-commerce and retail 'bricks & clicks' strategy in line with its business plans announced in November.

The move will see Marks & Spencer launch a new retail website, in French and trading in Euros, providing opportunities to serve customers throughout France. The company will also open a new store in the heart of Paris on the Champs-Elysees towards the end of this year offering a selection of both womenswear and food.

Marks & Spencer is also in advanced talks with SSP, an established UK franchise partner, regarding opening a number of Marks & Spencer Simply Food stores at strategic locations in and around Paris and is now looking for suitable sites. The retailer is also looking for a limited number of locations from which to sell a larger clothing and food offer.

Speaking from Paris, Marc Bolland, Marks & Spencer's Chief Executive, said:

"Marks & Spencer has great brand awareness here in France and a place in customers' hearts. We're very excited to be returning with an e-commerce and retail offer to delight customers with our full range of clothing and home products, and the exceptional food from our Paris store."

Both the new French website and Parisian store are scheduled to launch prior to this year's peak Christmas trading period to capitalise on the strong consumer awareness of the

Marks & Spencer brand[1].

French Website

Marks & Spencer's full range of high quality, stylish fashions for all the family and a selection of homeware products will be available to customers across the country via its brand new French website.

www.marksandspencer.fr will be the retailer's first international transactional website. The new French language website will offer a full range of womenswear and lingerie; menswear; kidswear and homeware - all priced in Euros and with local delivery prices.

Retail

Marks & Spencer is returning to Paris with an aspirational store located at 100 Avenue des Champs-Elysees. This 1,400 square metre (15,000 sq ft) store will trade over three floors in a unique location and showcase the very best of Marks & Spencer's stylish womenswear and lingerie alongside a convenience offer of high quality, innovative food.

Marks & Spencer will retain all 30 of the store's current employees - including the Store Manager - all of whom will take part in comprehensive training programmes over the coming months.

Marks & Spencer is also looking to open a number of Marks & Spencer Simply Food stores at strategic locations in and around Paris. The retailer is in advanced talks with SSP and together they are now looking for suitable sites.

[1] Independent Research November 2010. Prompted responses of 750 surveyed consumers revealed that over 70% of French consumers are aware of the Marks & Spencer brand.

-Ends-

For further information, please contact:

[old crow] 01/4/2011 08:01

Remember wise words from the Crows

Only 3 more days to buy on the cheap.

[nickward] 30/3/2011 15:05

Gruss, that wasn't meant as advice, just a bit of banter. If you are in for the long term then I wish you luck and I am sure you will have many buying opportunities and long term you may well be rewarded. I do the same with Rio Tinto and a number of others, every time they fall by a couple of lengths rather than a nags head I top up for the long term, the other week was a perfect buying opportunity for commodity based companies.

[gruss] 30/3/2011 12:44

What concerns more than anything there will be no fresh sandwiches at the AGM but will serve up the ones left over from the day before.

nickward

I'm keeping my long johns on. Not ready for shorts just yet!!

[ignoble] 30/3/2011 12:40

My wife is shopping at Marks Food Halls again , reckons they are nothing like as expensive as they were seen a few years ago !
Quality , of course , is excellent as always.

[isis] 30/3/2011 12:30

OMG - does that mean no Goody Bag this year then!

[nickward] 30/3/2011 12:25

Gruss

Not even slightly scorched. I don't want to say I told you so, but you better get your shorts on for the summer! In fact you should keep them on for the winter because Christmas 2011 could well be the most miserable Christmas in a long time for retailers. Don't believe for one minute that the cut in corporation tax is going to make any difference, it might help some business's pocket some cash, but it won't create jobs and it won't help consumer confidence. 'UK Uncut' is really beginning to get going and there are some tax dodging retailers out there 'Boots' 'Next' and a few others that are going to get some real flak from the public once they realise how much corporation tax has been siphoned off while the public take the brunt of the cuts.

[miata] 30/3/2011 11:42

Oriel Securities analysts say M&S's fourth-quarter general merchandise sales could be down as much as 8 percent on a like-for-like basis, and cut their pretax profit forecasts for 2010-11 and 2011-12 by 40 million pounds and 30 million pounds respectively, to 700 million and 780 million.

[gruss] 30/3/2011 09:40

WOW. Not even 09.40 and over 4 million shares traded. Time to batten down the hatches.

Dixons Retail has slumped more than 10% after a profit warning. The PC World and Currys owner says consumer confidence has deteriorated, particularly in Britain and Ireland. That does not bode well for the high street and elsewhere in the retail sector, M&S, Next, Argos owner Home Retail Group and Comet owner Kesa Electricals are suffering.

[careful] 29/3/2011 18:00

philip green did not make a bid in 2004.
he was told to put up or shut up so he walked away.
they would not let him look at the books.

[isis] 29/3/2011 07:12

What Lies in Store for Marks & Spencer in Depressed U.K. Retail Market?

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COMMENTARY
By ALESSANDRO PASETTI

If Marks & Spencer Group is committed to creating value, despite a dreary near-term business environment, it has all the pieces it needs. The international and domestic businesses should be separated, turning them into potential targets-and attracting a higher valuation for both.

Just last week, J. Sainsbury's 4Q financials and the latest set of U.K. retail figures have emphasized the grim outlook for U.K. retailers. Consumers are squeezed, higher input costs erode retail margins, and flat top lines neutralize operating leverage.

Sales at M&S are almost evenly split between high-end food staples and discretionary goods, neither of which is immune to the current macroeconomic difficulties. Accordingly, M&S finds itself trading at a significant discount to domestic peers.

Little surprise that press speculation has made Sainsbury a potential suitor for M&S. When organic growth sputters, deals beckon. The speculation could have just as easily made M&S the acquirer-but the derivate markets, for their part, agree that Sainsbury is more likely to bid than be bid for.

But waiting for a takeover is not a strategy. Management should actively facilitate a deal by spinning off the international division. International accounts for just 14% of the group's 2010 Ebitda (£1.28 billion) and 10% of sales, but boasts better growth prospects, higher profitability, and lower capex than the core business. Were it to be spun off, it could command a premium to the depressed 5.9x 2011 Ebitda multiple of M&S as a whole.

A 25% premium-a reasonable 10x multiple on the unit's 2011 Ebitda forecast-yields an enterprise value of roughly £2 billion. This valuation is hardly a stretch, given that the business has more than doubled sales and Ebitda since 2005. It still represents a 10% discount to typical mid-cycle multiples for U.K. retailers.

The unit would be bite-sized for bidders seeking international growth. And an independent international business wouldn't need any new leadership: The recently appointed Jan Heere-formerly of Zara's parent Inditex-is the right man to lead the value-creation charge.

Inevitably, a spin-off of M&S international would leave the parent weakened. Growth would be diminished. But a shareholder-friendly spin-off could attract investors seeking proactive, value-conscious management. Downside risk on a standalone M&S UK appears minimal as the stock-despite Thursday's spike-seems to price in any possible bad news already.


The separated domestic business could attract bidders too. A bid with a significant premium would still be at a discount to the offer that Philip Greene made in 2004. That bid came in at roughly 1.1x sales. All of M&S now trades at 0.8x sales.

M&S management must know something about attracting shoppers. It's time for them to apply their skills at the corporate level.

This article originally appeared on Dow Jones Investment Banker. To find out more about the service please visit: www.dowjones.com/ib/

[gruss] 28/3/2011 10:14

If you have the right products at the right price then the retailers will do well. Take a look at Primark and Next. Doom and gloom from the first retailer and
yet Next seem to be doing alot better.

Also there was a fire at the MKS in Exeter and the store had to close for a few weeks. During that time takings in the town centre for other shops dropped by 10%. This was purely put down to MKS being closed.

Ås I have said still holding alot from £2.00 and very happy to retain my holding.

Good to hear nickward is still with us and only slightly scorched!

[isis] 28/3/2011 09:34

The Government are trying to shift the employment onus onto the Private Sector with a reduction in the Private Sector - This was inevitable whoever was in power.
The measures and reduction in Corporation Tax goes someway in helping with this but there is a longway to go.
People still seem to find the £700/£800- for a new iPad so perhaps the are not as skint as the media would have us believe.

The Chavs may buy less takeaways and bling though.

[nickward] 28/3/2011 09:25

Gruss/ RobertFaulkner

There appears to be some glee that I may have been burned shorting this. Sorry to disappoint you nasty chaps but I am short from 400p, I will only close this short if the closing price goes above 360p. I believe this country is in for a hell of a shock once these cuts begin to really bite. Not only the public sector but the private sector as well. I was talking to a programmer who works on software contracts for NHS, Local Government and National Government, they are all being cut with redundancies on the cards. By the end of this year there will be well over 3 million unemployed. This will push the deficit back up. MKS may have benefited when the country was working, but now that Britain has stopped working I am reminded of the old adage 'Past performance is not a guide to future performance'. Unless there is a genuine takeover bid this share is not a short term buy

[isis] 25/3/2011 07:57

M&S recruits style guru Conran

Published Date: 25 March 2011
Marks & Spencer unveiled a partnership with the founder of Habitat yesterday as part of a move to modernise its Home department.
Influential British designer Sir Terence Conran, who opened the first Habitat store in London in 1964, will oversee the design of furniture, bedding, lighting and kitchenware in the "contemporary" section. Conran is also well known for developing several restaurants.

[isis] 24/3/2011 14:20

LONDON (ShareCast) - Retailers are in focus in London, providing some badly needed interest in a market that has been sleep-walking since the Chancellor of the Exchequer stood up to give his speech yesterday.

Next paraded a 9% rise in full-year profit to a new record, exactly what the City was expecting following guidance from the fashion retailer in January. Profit before tax increased to £551.4m in the 12 months to January, up from £505.3m in 2010, led by catalogue arm Next Directory where profits jumped 21% from £183.6m to £221.9m this time.

The shares move up, dragging Marks & Spencer along with them.

Do-it-yourself retailer Kingfisher built profits by 19% last year, pretty much in line with market expectations.

[isis] 24/3/2011 12:01

I have noticed they have put up their prices on clothes from last year - they're not cheap but sell good stuff.

[gruss] 24/3/2011 11:59

How can anyone compare Primark with MKS. Primark sell cheap clothes and Mks sell quality items that are inexpensively priced.

[isis] 24/3/2011 11:55

I bought some last week so pleased with the performance. This new chap has some good plans I think and a very good track record.

Of course the caveat is the UK retailing doubts.

[artnouveau] 24/3/2011 11:04

11 o'clock and over 10million shares traded

[artnouveau] 24/3/2011 10:12

Qatari's being mentioned and also in conjunction with Sainsbury's. Also yesterday's silly rumour had Qatari's backing Sainsbury to bid for M&S.

Private equity makes sense as M&S owns its commercial property. The company is also reducing debt and plugged pension hole.

Others could be the likes of Philip Green or the rise in recent days is purely fund managers stocking up ahead of results/dividends which are paid in July and Christmas.

Shares were undervalued and as the past 3 days has shown there's been some very large transactions on the buy side.

|ArtN

[robertfaulkner] 24/3/2011 10:08

I thought Nicward was a Fund Managers, but the miracle of Google shows(It's incredible that it can find it) a poster on ADVFN on MKS thread.

I don't take in the posters names as most are usually just initials.

I'll give up China buying MKS for a shorter being burnt

[gruss] 24/3/2011 10:06

Just seeing the price rise is excitement for me. I bought in at £2.00 a long while ago so very happy.