As a stalwart of the British high street, it’s a damper that just won’t go
away. Announcing its results this week, sales of clothing at Marks &
Spencer have declined a total of 16 out of 17 quarters. That is almost half
a decade of lagging sales.
to perform at M&S is an understatement, despite
the company hiking up its dividend to please its shareholders.
The results published this week were given a positive spin, but without
growth in general merchandise (fashion) chief executive Marc Bolland will
continue to come under pressure for failing to demonstrate sufficient
improvement in the business.
In April, the division recorded its first quarterly growth in years,
breaking a run of 14 consecutive quarters of growth. However in July it
revealed it had slipped back into decline, with like-for-likes down 0.4
percent. Just a week later clothing boss John Dixon revealed he was
leaving, and there have been other departures that will also put GM,
specifically womenswear, under immense pressure at a time when it is
already under the microscope.
Today’s figures suggest that the falls are getting worse and mean that
like-for-like sales in clothing has declined for 16 out of 17 quarters.
Looking ahead M&S has warned that market conditions are “challenging” both
in the UK and overseas.
If Bolland is feeling the pressure over clothing, he showed no sign of it
in his update. “We delivered good underlying profit growth in the first
half and made strong progress against our key priorities,” his statement
said. “Our food business again outperformed the market by over three
percentage points as our focus on quality and innovation continues to set
us apart.
“In general merchandise we decided to improve profitability by focusing on
gross margin, delivering another significant increase, which in part
resulted in slightly lower sales. As a consequence of good performance and
strong cash generation we have decided to increase our dividend.”
In short, the turnaround in M&S’ womenswear division remains to be seen.
Image:M&S campaign