Need to know
The retailer is continuing its expansion in the grocery sector
Need to know: Marks and Spencer bids to dominate weekly shop with £400m investment spree
- Marks and Spencer is making a bold bid to dominate Britain’s weekly shop as it prepares to unveil crucial full-year results on Wednesday.
- The retail giant has splashed out £66m on a massive warehouse from Asos and announced a whopping £340m food distribution centre in Northamptonshire. Food logistics chief Kevin Bennett described it as a “major step in transforming [it] into a true destination for the weekly shop”.
- M&S Food now accounts for more than half the company’s revenues at 54 per cent, with grocery sales surging 5.6 per cent year-on-year. The retailer celebrated its biggest-ever grocery market share of four per cent in November, putting pressure on upmarket rival Waitrose.
- But the company is still recovering from last year’s devastating cyber attack, which chairman Archie Norman called “traumatic”. The attack cost M&S £300m in lost sales and forced a 12-week website shutdown.
- M&S only recouped a third of its losses through insurance, with trading profit taking a £324m hit. The retailer’s share price has tumbled 11 per cent compared to last year, now sitting at 317p.
- To win back investors, M&S needs to hit forecasts of £16.4bn total sales and £603m pre-tax profit when it reports results.
- READ THE FULL STORY: M&S update for all UK stores before major Wednesday announcement
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
