Marks & Spencer: From pants to panettone
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UK Only Article:
standard article
Fly Title:
Marks & Spencer
Rubric:
Britain’s biggest clothing retailer is quietly turning into an upmarket grocer
Byline:
CR
Main image:
20150523_brp003.jpg
THE past year has been rough on Britain’s retailers. Undercut on price by Aldi and Lidl, a pair of German discounters, three of Britain’s biggest four supermarkets have reported losses, with Tesco, the largest, last month revealing a stonking shortfall of £6.4 billion (.6 billion). Clothing retailers, facing competition from online outfits with lower overheads, have not fared much better. In March BHS, a loss-making high-street chain with 171 stores, was sold to a group of venture capitalists for just £1. But a glimmer of hope for the sector has come from an unexpected source: the long struggling Marks & Spencer.
On May 20th the food and clothes retailer announced a 6.1% increase in profits, to £661m, in the year to March, the first year-on-year increase since 2011. That came on top of …<div class="og_rss_groups"></div>
Source: Retailing
Marks & Spencer: From pants to panettone
