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Marks & Spencer - Beats forecast; CEO more upbeat

December 2009

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.

  • Epic Code:
  • MKS
  • Price:
  • 372p
Shares in M&S rose sharply after the firm unveiled first half results, which beat forecasts. For the six months to 26 September sales rose 2.8% to £4.3bn. while adjusted pretax profit was £298.3m, broadly the same as last year. In General Merchandise sales rose 1.7% as it maintained its market leading position in clothing by value and volume. While the weak pound has caused imported items to become more expensive, the group has mitigated this through better sourcing and tight controls over stocks and markdowns, which meant gross margins fell just 0.3%. Meanwhile, in the food division sales rose 1.8% and this side has now enjoyed four consecutive quarters of improved like-for-like sales. But competition remains fierce ...

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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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