Marks And Spencer Share Discussion Threads

[philanderer] 04/1/2016 18:08

Not to worry EI , I added a few at 434.7p just before the close ;-)

[essentialinvestor] 04/1/2016 16:18

It looks like my thankfully modest trade has become an investment now,
could have been so much worse, dread to think.

[philanderer] 04/1/2016 12:42

4th january

M&S will underperform peers for years, Credit Suisse says

(ShareCast News) - Adverse weather led to another month of very soft comparables for retailer Marks&Spencer, but far more important for the company would be whether it could downsize its general merchandise store estate, Credit Suisse told clients.

The Swiss broker was now forecasting like-for-like growth in sales of just 1% in food and zero in general merchandise.

Several weeks of discounts of 30% or more across the store also meant second half gross margins would be 20 basis points lower.

That led analysts Simon Irwin and Pradeep Pratti to cut their forecast for earnings per share by 2.5% which lowered their estimate for profits before tax to £682m.

"After 5 years of downgrades, we remain very cautious about M&S recovery prospects and our forecasts for the next year years remain circa 10% below consensus. We expect M&S to continue to lose market share in GM due to its margin-focussed strategy and platform changes, while competition continues to build," the analysts said in a summary of a research note sent to clients on 22 December.

Hence, the analysts' recommendation was for the chain to be much more aggressive in churning its UK retail space, closing 5% of its stores and re-opening 3%.

To fund such a move, they said M&S would need to cancel its annual £150m of buybacks.

On the back of all of the above, the broker cut its 12-month target price on the company's shares from 500p to 475p.

"While the shares are very oversold at present (1m -13%) we believe they will continue to underperform retail peers in the year ahead."

[dlku] 04/1/2016 11:22

i went out yesterday, massive queues in local M&S and John Lewis

[philanderer] 04/1/2016 10:07

The week after Christmas was a washout for High Streets as retail parks continued to draw shoppers away, research has revealed.

Footfall between December 28 and January 1 was down 3% year-on-year, according to retail research firm Springboard

[philanderer] 04/1/2016 09:52

And these are not..

4th jan Bernstein 'market perform' tp 500p cut from 535p

[philanderer] 04/1/2016 09:37

These guys are chinese ...

4th january Haitong Secs buy tp 550p

[essentialinvestor] 04/1/2016 09:30

Some very nice reductions over the weekend on food at my local MKS.
Lovely extra think cut ham slices reduced from over £3 a packet to 50 pence,
two fruit cakes half price, and a wheel of cheese for £1 )
Lidl prices for MKS quality, got to love that.

[dlku] 04/1/2016 09:26

If they keep chucking off cash and buying back shares im happy sooner or later the business will turn around and meanwhile i get a nice dividend

[essentialinvestor] 04/1/2016 09:25

Well wound not expect anything like that this time imv.

Sub £4 is a possibility however may need the UKX near the 2015 lows,
just my take.

Expectations are already dire.

[rubberbullets] 04/1/2016 09:16

its all in the price, its not new news
last time it was sold off it then bounced 100p in a week

[aussiedonnie] 04/1/2016 09:11

This is going sub £4 imo folks !!!

[essentialinvestor] 04/1/2016 08:11

Thankfully I only bought 1,000 shares, what a brutal open (

[essentialinvestor] 03/1/2016 18:21

Expectations are clearly dire on the non food side,
so it's a case of whether the actuality is now even worse.

[philanderer] 03/1/2016 18:14

'Next and M&S first victims of retail’s toughest year'

Next and Marks & Spencer will be the first retailers to report on a tough Christmas trading season

The fallout from a punishing winter for Britain’s high street will be laid bare this week when retail stalwarts Marks & Spencer and Next are expected to report tough festive trading, reports The Telegraph.




'City expects sales fall at M&S clothing division in spite of glittering ad campaign'

Read more:

[essentialinvestor] 03/1/2016 18:10

Some lovely jewelled fruit cake being sold off half price
at my local MKS store today, hopefully the MKS share price is not on offer this week )

[essentialinvestor] 31/12/2015 12:29

Just bought a very small amount at 4.5059, out and out modest gamble.

[rubberbullets] 31/12/2015 09:02

08 January 2016 Interim dividend of 6.8p due

[badtime] 29/12/2015 16:24

Punted som at 452

[essentialinvestor] 24/12/2015 10:02

Big Phil eh, doubt he would pay anything like that myself.

Amber Day was one of the first shares I ever bought, his retail discount
venture, before discount became a major retail theme - a long time
ago now.