One of the largest British retailers posted annual figures that reflected pandemic's effects on the business
Marks
& Spencer, that has 254 full-line stores where it sells clothes,
homeware and food, posted a pre-tax profit before one-off items of 50.3 million
pounds, down from 403.1 million pounds reported for 2019-2020. In the food
sector, where space was open even during the pandemic, like-for-like sales went
up 1.3%. On the other hand, clothing and homeware sales plunged 31.5%, due to
the multiple COVID-19-related lockdowns. Also, the company’s profit for
2020-2021 slumped 88%, reflecting the collapse in clothing sales.
Chief Executive Steve
Rowe stated: "by going further and faster in our transformation during
this period of disruption...we have now moved beyond fixing the basics to forge
a reshaped M&S that is ready for the next phase."
For the future, Marks & Spencer forecast an underlying
pre-tax profit to recover to 300-350 million pounds in 2021-2022. Moreover, the
company is looking to fully remodel approx. 180 stores.
After the news hit the wires, the company's stock price went
up 7.3%.
Source: reuters.com
