M&S slows its food store expansion plan

Marks and Spencer will open fewer Simply Food shops than expected after same store foods sales fell in the first six months of its financial year.

Chief executive Steve Rowe said last year the retailer would open 200 Simply Food shops over the next five years.

However, M&S said it would "reposition our food business including slowing our Simply Food store opening plan".

Like-for-like food sales, which exclude new store trade, fell 0.1% with Marks saying it faced "stronger headwinds".

However, total food sales for the period rose 4.4% driven by new shop openings.

M&S said that "hard-pressed" consumers were more aware of value and were being "careful about premium choices". It added that "headwinds facing our food business have intensified as competitors have encroached on some of our space with the rapid growth of convenience".

It also said that its profit margins on food had been hit because of rising producer costs, as well as its policy of not passing on price increases to its customers.

M&S had planned for 90 new Simply Food shops this year, half of which M&S would open itself, while the rest would be operated by franchisees.

It will now open 80 stores, split equally between M&S and its franchise partners. It also expected to open a further 90 Simply Food stores in 2018, but this will also now be reduced.

Commenting on M&S's performance in food, Patrick O'Brien, UK research director at GlobalData Retail, said: "When you compare that to the likes of Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons, whose recent like-for-likes have been around 2% plus, that's a pretty bad performance."

He said that food had been "a banker" for M&S in the past. "For it to be losing ground at a time of inflation is really quite damaging," he said.

For the group, overall total sales rose by 2.6% to £5.1bn, but pre-tax profit fell by 5.3% to £219.1m.

Like-for-like sales in clothing and homeware fell 0.7%, while total same-store sales declined 0.3%.