Marks And Spencer Share Discussion Threads

[xxxxxy] 18/8/2020 08:40

Daniel Downes 18 Aug 2020 8:36AMAh well- any day now we'll be seeing the huge uptake in retail footfall due to the British Retail Consortium putting pressure on the feeble government three weeks ago to make face nappies mandatory in shops. All going to plan as those 'reassured' by wearing an ineffective 'face covering' make up for all the £££'s not spent by people like myself, who haven't been in a shop since July 24th.Bravo BRC, and bravo Boris!... Daily Telegraph

[robot ic1] 18/8/2020 08:39

The UK's largest auction house network says its had its busiest month in 52 years selling goods from UK businesses that have gone bankrupt during the Covid-19 lockdown.

[raam35g] 18/8/2020 08:34

Shame. Customer service has always been very good. Maybe the tanoy woman was given notice. Morale can't be good.

Honey roast peanuts a pound! Then round to Lidel for the quality pale international lager at a very reasonable price.

[xxxxxy] 18/8/2020 08:34

8:11amOnline sales share reaches record highOnline sales now account for a record 13.5pc of the total grocery market, according to the latest data released by Kantar.It found the overall grocery market grew 14.4pc over the past 12 weeks, with growth easing slightly as greater normality returns. Shoppers visited supermarkets two million times less than expected after rules calling for mandatory wearing of face coverings were introduced.... Daily Telegraph

[robot ic1] 18/8/2020 08:31

Ricky Gervais would be a better top man running M&S company .

He would get things done .

[robot ic1] 18/8/2020 08:22

SEVEN THOUSAND jobs going at MARKS .

[robot ic1] 18/8/2020 08:15

Qantas and Debsdowner good raining morning to you .

Was in Marks yesterday ,
All of a sudden the tanoy woman shouted get out of the red box , get out of the red box ,get out of the red box.

A poor old frail lady seemed confused and was looking for a red box.

Actually the lady was stood over the red box marked on the floor.

Obviously the store staff do not know how to deal with customers in a nice decent way .

I will not go in another marks and Spencers shop ever again ,


They have lost our trade forever .

Hope they go bust .

[xxxxxy] 18/8/2020 08:07

848. Brilliant.

[debsdowner] 18/8/2020 08:06

MARKS share price up circa 1 pence but I think the market has yet to digest the news and profits will be hit hard in fact the company will take a significant hit.

The analysts bound to reduce its earnings imo.

[johnwise] 18/8/2020 07:59

Chinese Virus

VIDEO President Trump holds a press conference.

"US Retail spending has recovered and at a record number."

[johnwise] 18/8/2020 07:58

Chinese Virus

VIDEO President Trump holds a press conference.

"US Retail spending has recovered and at a record number."

[debsdowner] 18/8/2020 07:57

SKY news:

Says the company learnt staff can "multi task" moving from food to clothes and home, so staff are having to work harder !

Also due to new technology within the store various managerial levels will be reduced, meaning people who are paid for managerial levels will mean less of them.

What this all means for an employee is staff will be kept working harder for less money overall as managerial jobs will be cut as technology dispensing of those roles.

Then when the market gets even more competitive robots will be next.

[bluepeter1] 18/8/2020 07:34

TRADING UPDATE
Overall the group year to date has performed ahead of the scenario we announced at the year-end in revenue and cash. However at this early stage there remains substantial uncertainty about market conditions and the duration of social distancing measures, and we are retaining a cautious approach to planning for the balance of the year.
Food business showing good year on year growth
M&S Food sales have built steadily from the shifts in demand and closure of travel locations at the outset of the crisis. In the last 13 weeks total Food sales have increased 2.5%. In that same period like for like sales excluding the impact of the closure of hospitality and travel franchise units were up 10.6%, with an improving trend as more locations recover and performance has regained momentum as customers have bought back into our quality, fresh food offer and investment in range and trusted value.
The transition to taking over the supply agreement with Ocado Retail is on track for September and we are beginning to see the benefits as planned in the form of trading terms and the launch of over 500 new products in M&S stores from the expanded online range created for the switchover.

[xxxxxy] 18/8/2020 07:32

Retail giant Marks & Spencer has said it plans to cut around 7,000 jobs over the next three months across stores, regional management and its support centre.M&S said the plans came after seeing a "material shift" in trade.Sources... Daily Telegraph

[xxxxxy] 18/8/2020 07:27

Marks & Spencer to cut 7,000 jobs after Covid-19 hits sales - business live... The Guardian

[debsdowner] 18/8/2020 07:11

MARKS is bringing forward a 3 year plan into 1, this will cost a hefty sum on the balance sheet.

"The cost of the programme including redundancies will be reflected in a significant adjusting item to be included in the group's half-year results. The streamlining programme is an important step in delivering on our cost savings programme and ensuring we emerge from the crisis with a lower cost base and a stronger more resilient business."

Clothes and home down a whacking 49.5% and even food down 1.1% in the last 19 weeks.

However one bit of good news is food up 2.5% in last 8 weeks.

[debsdowner] 18/8/2020 07:02

Trading announcement and confirmation of 7,000 job cuts.

Highlights:

1.

"Clothing & Home significantly down but improving

Total revenue was down 38.5% in the last 13 weeks. In the 8 weeks since store re-opening total sales have been down 29.9% with trends steadily improving. In those 8 weeks store sales were down 47.9% and online has continued to perform strongly up 39.2% on last year.

The performance of store sales has varied widely across the estate with some of the newer out of town stores trading close to last year's level of sales overall in recent weeks but legacy town centre stores and some shopping centres still heavily impacted by social distancing and reduced footfall. Furthermore, with the closure of many workplaces and lack of social gatherings, the clothing sales mix has seen a substantial shift from office dressing and formal wear into casual clothing and leisure wear.

Through upweighted promotional activity we have made good progress in clearing surplus stock. As announced at the year-end we have booked additional storage space to hibernate surplus good stock for next year.

2.

NEXT STEPS ON STREAMLINING THE BUSINESS

We are today announcing important proposals to further streamline the business both at stores and management level.

As previously outlined Clothing & Home trading in the stores remains well below last year, with online and home delivery strong. It is clear that there has been a material shift in trade and whilst it is too early to predict with precision where a new post Covid sales mix will settle, we must act now to reflect this change.

We have also learnt that we can work more flexibly and productively with more colleagues multi-tasking and transitioning between Food and Clothing & Home. The deployment of our leading store technology package developed in partnership with Microsoft has also enabled us to reduce layers of management and overheads in the support office.

As a result we are today embarking on a multi-level consultation programme which we anticipate will result in a reduction of c. 7,000 roles over the next 3 months. These will include departures in our central support centre, in regional management, and in our UK stores, reflecting the fact that the change has been felt throughout the business.

We expect a significant proportion will be through voluntary departures and early retirement. In line with our longstanding value of treating our people well, we will now begin an extensive programme of communication with colleagues.

Concurrently we expect to create a number of new jobs as we invest in online fulfilment and the new ambient food warehouse and reshape our store portfolio over the course of the year.

The cost of the programme including redundancies will be reflected in a significant adjusting item to be included in the group's half-year results. The streamlining programme is an important step in delivering on our cost savings programme and ensuring we emerge from the crisis with a lower cost base and a stronger more resilient business."

[debsdowner] 18/8/2020 06:56

Shock news 7,000 floor jobs to be axed at MARKS says SUN

[waldron] 18/8/2020 06:54

Grocery
Marks & Spencer and Waitrose square up ahead of Ocado switchover

By George MacDonald17 August 2020
Ocado will sell M&S food rather than Waitrose's from September

Marks & Spencer and rival Waitrose have both launched marketing initiatives to draw customers as their relationship with Ocado changes.

Ahead of the formal launch of its partnership with Ocado at the start of September, Marks & Spencer has highlighted the price and credentials of its ‘Remarksable’ value range.

Meanwhile, Waitrose has unveiled a campaign to convert Ocado customers to its own online store, as its links to the etailer are cut.

[debsdowner] 17/8/2020 22:34

Pasty,

When House of Fraser warned of store closure they told staff not to open the shop doors while mid morning as staff were in tears so they could pull themselves together.

[debsdowner] 17/8/2020 22:31

Pasty,

I agree with you on the first bit managers meeting suggests a jobs cut and RNS to follow.

Bit as for discontinuing clothes that would be a significant radical change and amount to thousands of job cuts, maybe even tend of thousands of job cuts and lots of store closures, so I wouldn't think that would happen.

We await tomorrow but even if no announcement in the morning there has to be one soon.

[pastybap] 17/8/2020 22:04

Yeh, it's internal information. I wouldn't have thought anything of it if the meeting had been any other time of day. But would they worry about announcing a few hundred redundancies at RNS release time, with such news already expected? My money is on a complete exit from clothing, but that's just a wild stab in the dark.

[debsdowner] 17/8/2020 21:38

Pasty,

No news on internet tonight so I am assuming you have internal news and or someone has been told of this before and official announcement ?

This doesn't surprise me if true as there has been speculation by the press for weeks now claiming 900 jobs will be cut but I expect far more than that and also shop closures.

MARKS is no different to other retailers all are under pressure to cut costs because of a reduced footfall and it is getting to the state where margins are non existent.

The 7 am call in to managers is also interesting as that is when a RNS is issued and I will hope to be up early to see if MARKS do issue a RNS announcing significant job losses and store closures.

If I had to hazard a guess I suspect the job losses will amount to well over 900 possible in 4 digits i.e. well over a 1,000 or in the thousands.