Marks & Spencer, the UK’s biggest clothing retailer, is set to post a 34% drop in first-half profit on Tuesday, hit by a deepening consumer downturn and self-confessed mistakes at its food business.
The 124-year-old mainstay of UK retailing is expected to report profit before tax and one-off items of £296.5 million (€375m) for the six months ended September, according to the mean forecast of 11 analysts in a Reuters poll.
That would be the worst first-half performance since 2004 and down from £451.8m (€570m) in the same period last year.
Shares in M&S, whose 600-plus British stores are visited by more than 21 million people every week, have plunged as much as two-thirds in value over the past 18 months and hit a 7-1/2 year low of 191.90 pence in September.
The firm restored some calm last month by saying it was cutting costs and investment to cope with tough trading, which raised hopes its dividend would not be reduced.
It also said it was tackling problems, such as poor stock availability and insufficient promotions at its upmarket food business.
But M&S reported a 6.1% drop in second-quarter UK like-for-like sales, its worst performance for three years, and recent comments from rivals suggest trading has got even worse.
