Marks and Spencer speeds up plans to close clothing departments as part of business overhaul
The retailer has posted a fall in profits of 5.3 per cent this morning
HIGH street giant Marks & Spencer will accelerate its clothing store closure plans and slow Simply Food openings as it posted a 5.3 per cent fall in half-year profits.
The retailer said it would further "reshape" its clothing and home arm and was also launching a "significant" review of costs under the next push of its turnaround plan.
It posted underlying pre-tax profits of £219.1million for the six months to September 30, down from £231.3 million a year earlier.
But like-for-like sales improved in its clothing and home arm, down by a better-than-feared 0.1 per cent in its second quarter after a 1.2 per cent per cent in the previous three months.
Food sales were also 0.1 per cent down in the second quarter.
Chief exec Steve Rowe said: "The business still has many structural issues to tackle as we embark on the next five years of our transformation, in the context of a very challenging retail and consumer environment.
"Today we are accelerating our plans to build a business with sustainable, profitable growth, making M&S special again."
M&S said it would reshape the clothing and home chain to focus on the most successful sales locations, while also driving online sales.
It added that it would put the brakes on opening plans for its food-only stores, although it still aims to launch another 80 Simply Food shops over the full year.
The group's plans to step up its overhaul comes a year after it announced that it would shut 30 of its larger UK stores, with a further 45 being downsized or converted to food-only stores.
It has so far completed six of the 30 announced UK closures but it didn't reveal what impact "accelerating" this process would mean for stores across the country.
It also announced its finance chief Helen Weir would be stepping down.
The group said it was seeing signs that the first steps of its recovery plan were working, with a better-than-expected shift of sales from closed stores to nearby outlets.
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Like-for-like clothing and home sales fell 0.7 per cent overall and revenue lifted 5.7 per cent online.
It added there would be no further impact on staff under plans to speed up its store overhaul, with the group looking to relocate those affected by shop closures where possible.
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