“She has great operational experience from McDonald’s and retail experience through Halfords. It’s a great combination.”
In food, fourth-quarter same-store sales slipped 2.9%, hurt by the later timing of Easter, and the weaker pound drove up costs denting its margin.
Across the full-year, M&S’s group sales were up 2.2% at £10.6 billion, and pre-tax profit dived more than 63% to £176.4 million partly because of the cost of changes to pay and pensions, the closure of international stores and head-office cuts.
Stripping those out, profit was down 10.3% at £613.8 million, exceeding analyst expectations.
The company did not provide sales or profit guidance for the full-year, but it did warn of rising costs in the UK as it takes on new space and deals with cost inflation.
The City responded positively to the results, sending shares up 4.2p to 391.90p.
Broker Peel Hunt said: “We think that M&S is doing a lot of the right things and that, in a tough market, the shopper is responding relatively well.”
