Marks & Spencer Is Getting Crushed
Marks & Spencer is probably one of the UK's most-loved brands, but it's getting no love from financial markets this morning. They're the worst-performing shares on the FTSE 100 at the moment. Shares are down about 3.31% as of 9.15 a.m. GMT (4.15 a.m. ET).
That's following some miserable sales results just announced for the last 13 weeks of the year, including Christmas. Like-for-like growth in food sales of 2.8% wasn't enough to cheer shareholders this morning.
That's because general merchandise shares slumped over Christmas, down 5.8% like-for-like. The puts overall sales for the UK down 2.7%, including an online slump of 5.9%. International sales are even worsen, down 5.8%
Here's the breakdown:
Understandably, CEO Mark Bolland wanted to focus on the positive Christmas sales, but there's no hiding the generally disappointing overall figures.
M&S is not alone: Pretty much every major UK retailer is suffering at the moment, with low (or negative) growth in sales and the increasing pressure from discounters like Aldi and Lidl.
Despite that, there's another British retailer leading the FTSE 100 this morning. Embattled Tesco has announced some key planks in its turnaround plan, and its shares are up by more than 5%.