Updates

Marks & Spencer

August 2017

Investing in shares may lose you all or some of your money. Past performance is no indication of future performance. Some of the shares recommended here may be small company shares, which can be relatively illiquid and hard to trade and this makes such shares more risky than other investments.

Having hit a high of 395p after the excitement of Archie Norman becoming chairman the bubble was punctured, possibly unfairly, by an in line set of results. Adjusted pretax profit fell 10.3% to £614m while eps was down 12.6% to 30.4p. Strong cash generation reduced net debt by £204m to £1.9bn, while the dividend was held at 18.7p.Clothing & Home sales declined by 3.4% like-for-like, reflecting a planned reduction in promotions and clearance sales. The reward was a rise in gross margin of 1.05%. Management reduced the number of sub brands and number of lines by 10%, while there was a reduction in price in 2,400 lines since January 2016 to improve perceptions of value.In food like-for-like sales declined 0 ...

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Whitbread

SuperGroup

Marks & Spencer - To close 53 international stores (January 2017)

Marks & Spencer - CEO review leads to eps downgrades (August 2016)

Marks & Spencer - Outperforms food sector (May 2016)

Marks & Spencer - Sharp rise in gross margin (February 2016)

Marks & Spencer - Strong rise in gross margin (December 2015)

Marks and Spencer - Shares hit new high of 577.5p (June 2015)

Marks & Spencer - Beats forecasts thanks to gross margin gains (December 2014)

Marks & Spencer (August 2014)

Marks & Spencer (March 2014)

Marks & Spencer (January 2014)

Marks & Spencer - High hopes for Autumn/Winter clothing range (August 2013)

Marks & Spencer - Food sales gain offset clothing decline (May 2013)

Marks & Spencer -Stronger Q2 heralds re-rating (December 2012)

Marks & Spencer - Pulls back sales growth targets (July 2012)

Marks & Spencer (March 2012)

Marks & Spencer - Net debt falles by Â£230m (December 2011)

Marks & Spencer (September 2011)

Marks & Spencer - Eps rises 16% (July 2011)

Marks & Spencer (May 2011)

Marks & Spencer - Shrugs off snow disruption (February 2011)

Marks & Spencer - Sound strategy unveiled (December 2010)

Marks & Spencer - Shares have gained 91% (November 2010)

Marks & Spencer (August 2010)

Marks & Spencer - Sharp fall in net debt (July 2010)

Marks & Spencer (May 2010)

Marks & Spencer - Tight stock control maintains margins (February 2010)

Marks & Spencer - Beats forecast; CEO more upbeat (December 2009)

Marks & Spencer - Beats forecasts (November 2009)

Marks & Spencer - Improvement in underlying sales (August 2009)

Marks & Spencer (June 2009)

Marks & Spencer - Aggressive cost cutting (February 2009)

M&S - Interest rate cuts could galvanise shares from eight year lows (December 2008)

With small companies there is an above average degree of risk compared to buying blue chips. Please be aware that we have not assessed the suitability of any of these investments for you. The newsletter simply states a personal view and diarises the editor’s investment decisions. Please speak to your stockbroker or other qualified individual to ascertain whether any of these companies mentioned would form useful additions to your own portfolios. Past performance is no indication of future success.

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