M&S boss slashes sales targets

MARKS & Spencer boss Marc Bolland slashed his sales targets for the high street retailer today as he unveiled its first fall in profits in three years.

Despite efforts to pull in customers with celebrity-laden advertising campaigns, featuring the likes of actresses Joanna Lumley and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and actor Ryan Reynolds, like-for-like sales of general merchandise fell 1.8 per cent in the last year.

The decline was driven by a mixed performance in womenswear and home, with the latter impacted by the company’s decision to exit the technology market.

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Helped by a stronger performance in food, M&S saw underlying pre-tax profits drop one per cent to £705.9m in the year to March 31, while total sales grew two per cent to £9.9bn.

In November 2010, Mr Bolland set a target to grow revenues by between £1.5bn and £2.5bn over three years but as a result of the harsh economic climate has cut this target to between £1.1bn and £1.7bn.

In addition, Mr Bolland said the group now expected to invest £200m less in its UK stores over the remaining two years of its strategy review.

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