Marks & Spencer’s new CEO Marc Bolland unveiled the retailer’s long-awaited strategic review this week. The firm plans to expand into select emerging markets such as India and China, increase online sales and discontinue ‘non-core’ lines, such as televisions. The review came on the back of solid first-half results. Underlying sales were up 4.4%, while pre-tax profits climbed 17% to £348.6m.
What the commentators said
M&S’s review “was a lot like its clothes”, said the FT’s Lex column, “sensible but a bit dull”. Maybe Bolland felt reassured by the earnings report, but the healthy figures don’t mean “M&S has escaped its strategic rut”. The UK strategy is too cautious, while the international expansion is a case of “here we go again… the company is basically back where it was four years ago”.
Judging from his presentation, “Bolland is less exciting than his pay package”, said Nils Pratley in The Guardian. His plan is “underwhelming”, while the new “Only at M&S” branding is just a “rehashing” of old slogans. But the biggest worry is not the lack of ambition. M&S’s most serious challenge is that most of its customers are 50-plus. It’s not affecting profits yet, but that single fact is “much debated in the City”. By refusing to confront it, Bolland could be “storing up trouble”.
At least Bolland’s presentation – while “lengthy [and] technical”– made a distinct change to his predecessor, Stuart Rose’s, “razzmatazz”, said Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail. What’s more, the Dutchman seems to understand the shop’s iconic status in Britain. Rose stopped the rot but new growth initiatives were “snuffed out by recession”. Bolland has to “make up ground online and overseas”. The latest results put “a fair wind behind him”.
MKS: 395p; 12m change -6.4%