M&S boss Steve Rowe: We are frustrating our customer May 25, 2016 Marks & Spencer's new chief executive Steve Rowe has admitted the company has been "frustrating" its customer with its failure to listen properly to what shoppers want – and pledged to do more to win hearts and minds. Rowe unveiled the first parts of a major strategy designed to appeal to its lost customer as the [...]
Advisers tell MPs that BHS needed to be sold by Arcadia group to give it any chance of surviving as a business May 25, 2016 One of the advisers on the sale of BHS has today told MPs that the company needed to be separated from the Arcadia group for it to have a chance of continuing as a viable business. Speaking in front of the Work and Pensions committee and the Business, Innovation and Skills committee, Mark Byers, partner at [...]
Retail Acquisitions may not have been fully aware of the BHS pension position when it first explored buying the retailer May 25, 2016 BHS' pensions fund trustees today told MPs that Retail Acquisitions may not have been fully aware of the pension scheme position when it began the process of buying the business. Speaking in front of the Work and Pensions committee and the Business, Innovation and Skills committee, Chris Martin, chair of the BHS Pension Fund Trustees, pointed [...]
Mrs M&S: Steve Rowe’s first blunder? May 25, 2016 Marks & Spencer's new chief executive Steve Rowe has been on the front foot today, setting out his new strategy of ditching promotions and fashion-focused clothing in favour of cheaper prices and wardrobe staples. It's well needed, given that the retailer announced profits down by almost a fifth today, driven by sluggish clothing sales. Under Rowe's [...]
How do you solve a problem like M&S: What Steve Rowe is pledging to do to fix Marks & Spencer May 25, 2016 Another day, another set of terrible results for Marks & Spencer, which this morning revealed pre-tax profits had slumped by almost a fifth over the last year. As with every other update in the last four or five years, the retailer experienced strong sales in food and a disappointing in clothing. But unlike other results, today's figures [...]
Marks & Spencer profits drop by a fifth as Steve Rowe sets out plans to revive clothing business May 25, 2016 Marks & Spencer's share price fell more than 8.3 per cent this morning, despite pre-tax profits falling by nearly a fifth in the last year, as new management unveiled plans to tackle the struggling clothing division. The figures Group revenue at M&S was up 2.4 per cent to £10.6bn for the 53 weeks to 2 April, while underlying pre-tax [...]
Two directors step down from Retail Acquisitions as BHS sales process drags on May 24, 2016 TWO directors of Retail Acquisitions, the company which bought BHS for £1 in 2015 from Sir Philip Green, have resigned. Retail Acquisitions' tenure at BHS ended in controversy when the retailer was placed in administration in April, putting thousands of jobs at risk. It has since emerged that Dominic Chappell, who headed up Retail Acquisitions, [...]
More national newspaper job losses (and a canteen closure) as Telegraph seeks savings May 24, 2016 More national newspaper jobs are being lost this week as part of a cost-cutting push by the publisher of the Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group (TMG) chief executive Murdoch MacLennan set out several money-saving measures on Monday, including the closure of the staff canteen. And the company, which is owned by the Barclay brothers, Sir David [...]
Best Buy has warned over its current quarter, sending its share price tumbling May 24, 2016 US electronics chain Best Buy has said it's current quarter is going to come in below analyst expectations. The company has blamed disruption in supply after an earthquake in Japan caused chaos with production of some high-margin products, as well as investment in services launched last September dragging on earnings. The news, coming ahead of the open in [...]
PPF and administrator in discussions over possibly placing BHS into liquidation May 24, 2016 The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) is in talks with BHS' administrators over placing the retailer into liquidation, as fears grow that the company cannot be saved. The PPF, which is the company's largest unsecured creditor, is thought to have entered the discussion because it wants to maximise the potential returns for creditors. The conversations between the [...]