ANALYST VIEWS: IS THIS THE START OF A RECOVERY FOR M&S?
NICK BUBB PALI INTERNATIONAL
Weak comparatives may well be making like-for-like sales look less bad, but gross margins and profits are still falling and there is no disguising the structural or management problems that M&S faces, so we suspect we are not going to hear “game, set and match to Stuart Rose” in the near future.
RICHARD HUNTER HARGREAVES LANSDOWN
M&S was initially slow to react to the changing economic backdrop, although is now making strides to rectify its value offerings. On balance, and following a 43 per cent rise in the share price over the last six months, the general view is that the shares are up with events and remain a hold.
TONY SHIRET ORIEL SECURITIES
The results are better than expected but certainly clothing has been boosted by the weather. Plus there has been a lot of promotion around their 125th anniversary in the period. So I am not really reading too much into the general merchandise figures. The food numbers are more interesting, and could perhaps be indicative that they are starting to turn it around.