Marks and Spencer suffer a profit drop of up to 10%

One of the UK’s oldest food and clothing retailers reports a dip in its profits

16:14 06 November 2012

Marks and Spencer, also known as M&S, is a popular retailer that has been around for over a century. Now, as one of Britain’s food and clothing retailers, they have reported a profit drop of as much as 9.7per cent.

 

The company’s latest figures state that they have made a pre-tax profit of £290million over a period of six months, up to the end of September. Which is nearly 10per cent less than what they took the previous year for the same months.

 

M&S said that their food sales had increased by 1.1per cent on a like-for-like basis however, but that it was their clothing and home ware figures that were reflecting a fall.

 

This area of the business decreased by 1.8per cent in like-for-like sales over a three month period - as reported by The Telegraph - up to the end of September.

 

The Chief Executive for M&S, Marc Bolland, said: “We are pleased to report a better performance across the business in the second quarter.

 

“We took steps to address the short term merchandising issues in General Merchandise [clothing and home ware] and as a result, we delivered an improved performance.”

 

It is understood that the firm consider their customer’s current income as being a contributory factor for the recent bad sales figures.

 

On the plus though, M&S saw an increase of 3.6per cent for their international sales.

 

As referred to in a report by the BBC, the retailers saw their first profit fall in three years this year, as pre-tax profit figures stated a dip of 16per cent by the end of March.

 

Like most retailers, M&S can hope that the festive period brings them good business, as shoppers are expected to spend money as they make their preparations for Christmas.