City still waits for sweeping change from the new broom

As far as the City is concerned there are few surprises in these results. But there's a sense with M&S of boredom, that it's high time the management did present a fillip to staff and the army of shareholders who stuck by them in the face of what looked like an attractive offer from Philip Green.

The chart is always down at M&S and it keeps on falling. So no change there, then. More noises about this being a "year of great change" from the chairman - an understatement, not least because the boardroom has been embroiled in an unseemly row about who should fill that role - will do little to assuage the feeling that the long-term decline has yet to be arrested.

While Tesco powers on, Asda continues its rise and even Sainsbury's seems to be turning a corner, M&S still struggles. There is precious little sign of the magic that new broom Stuart Rose promised when he swept in to defeat Green, and investors must look at the share price now and what Green said he was prepared to pay and weep.

These are tough days on the high street. Green himself admits to feeling the squeeze. A consumer downturn and ferocious competition - from rival shops, the internet and outof-town discounters - are combining to place intense pressure on retailers.

In the middle of this, there's dear old M&S trying to reinvent itself, going back to basics, desperately attempting to remind shoppers what it stands for and what it used to be.

There is the impression, not diminished by today's figures, of a group spinning on the spot, while others, notably the "fast fashion" operators such as H&M, New Look and Zara, sprint away.

Tucked away in the small print are other factors indicating the agonies being endured: a ?38.6 million hit defending Green's putative strike; ?29.3 million for the closure of the disastrous Lifestore experiment; ?8.4 million for board restructuring and ?6.3 million for head office reshaping. Any business would wish to avoid such sums.

Compared with the previous regime, Rose has wrested improvements. The stores are livelier, the head office move has gone well. Lines, especially in ladies' fashion - for too long its Achilles heel - are brighter. There's more emphasis on everything being quicker and better value for money, the watchwords of the high street these days. But is it enough? Not so far. Staff, investors and customers, those that remain loyal to M&S and so keenly want the chart to rise again, are still waiting.