Marks & Spencer to scale back overseas

MARKS & Spencer could retreat from swathes of overseas shops under plans by its new chief executive to jumpstart growth at the high street chain.

Steve Rowe, an M&S lifer, is making the retailer’s international shop estate his next priority after claiming that a decline in overseas profits was “not sustainable”.

The company’s annual report reveals the board is “looking at every part of our international business to make sure our strategy remains relevant”.

Mr Rowe will update shareholders in November about his plans for the

retailer’s store estate after focusing his turnaround so far on reviving M&S’s flagging womenswear division.

The company veteran took the reins in April this year from Marc Bolland and has since reshuffled M&S’s board so he maintains control of the clothing arm while the international team reports directly to him.

Marks & Spencer has 468 shops in 58 countries across Europe, Asia and the Middle East which are a mixture of franchise, joint venture and company owned.

The new M&S boss said in May that its European business was producing “unsatisfactory results”, raising speculation that retailer could look to exit cities on the Continent which have expensive rents, such its Parisian store on the Champs-Élysées.

Just two months after his Dutch predecessor stepped down in March, Mr Rowe abandoned plans to open a major store in Amsterdam.

Marks & Spencer’s expansion into the Netherlands was part of an international drive led by Mr Bolland who also spearheaded a return to France, Italy and Spain after the retailer made a humiliating retreat from the Continent in 2001.