Marks & Spencer could close more stores than 110 already planned, boss admits

Chief executive Steve Rowe says plans ‘not finite’ and that portfolio of branches is ‘holding it back’

Ben Chapman
Wednesday 10 July 2019 11:49 BST
Comments
Marks and Spencer will close over 100 stores over the next four years

Marks & Spencer may close more stores after chief executive Steve Rowe admitted that current plans to shut 110 were “not finite”.

Mr Rowe told shareholders on Tuesday that M&S’s portfolio of stores was “holding it back” while chairman Archie Norman said the retailer was paying the price for being too slow to close “old-fashioned” branches over the past 20 years.

M&S has already announced plans to shut 85 department stores and 25 of its Simply Food outlets as it bids to cut £350m costs and keep up with changing shopping habits as consumers buy more online.

Mr Norman added the company would speak to store staff more as part of the company’s attempts to deliver future growth.

He said: “Somewhere along the line, the organisation we inherited became slow, unaccountable and lost the voice of the stores.

“If we hear the voice of the stores, we will grow.”

M&S narrowly avoided falling out of the FTSE 100 during the index’s quarterly reshuffle in June, despite seeing nearly a fifth wiped off its share price over the previous six months.

The company was criticised at its annual general meeting on Tuesday over its declining share price and cut to its dividend.

Mr Norman responded: “I’ve always said this is a five-year programme and the most important thing is to get on with the job, and hopefully in years to come we will get back to paying an increased dividend.”

The high street stalwart tapped investors for £600m to finance a joint venture with online grocery firm Ocado.

It aims to use the new tie-up to help double the size of its £6bn food business and catch up with the online offerings of rivals.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in