Marks & Spencer's CEO has left open the possibility of more store closures after saying its current plans to shut 110 stores are \u201cnot finite\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Steve Rowe said its portfolio of legacy stores was \u201cholding it back\u201d as he spoke to shareholders at the company\u2019s annual general meeting.\u00a0Chairman Archie Norman added it was now paying the price for \u201cnot shutting stores 10 or 20 years ago\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n The company is in the midst of a major overhaul, which includes plans to close 85 full-line stores and around 25 Simply Food outlets<\/strong> as it looks to return to sustainable profit growth.<\/p>\n The chairman said the restructuring would stabilise the firm<\/strong> as it looks to direct resources elsewhere in the business, including online growth, as it seeks to double the size of its food business.<\/p>\n Rowe said the company was on the right track but needed to iron out \u201cwobbles\u201d in its business,<\/strong> which included selling out of popular jeans and \u201csome of the worst availability I\u2019d seen in 30 years\u201d earlier this year.<\/p>\n He said M&S was on target to meet its \u00a3350 million savings<\/strong> targets through axing \u201cold-fashioned stores\u201d.<\/p>\n Norman added the company would speak to store staff more as part of the company\u2019s attempts to deliver future growth.\u00a0He said: \u201cSomewhere along the line, the organisation we inherited became slow, unaccountable and lost the voice of the stores<\/strong>.\u00a0If we hear the voice of the stores, we will grow.\u201d<\/p>\n The retailer\u2019s board received a broadly positive reception from shareholders, who appeared to largely back its transformation plans.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, it received criticism from one shareholder over the company\u2019s decision to reduce its dividend and its recent decline in share price.<\/strong><\/p>\n Norman responded: \u201cI\u2019ve always said this is a five-year programme and the most important thing is to get on with the job and hopefully in years to come we will get back to paying an increased dividend.\u201d<\/p>\n This year, the company\u2019s entire workforce missed out on their annual bonuses<\/strong> after failing to hit performance targets.\u00a0Rowe was among the thousands of staff who missed the payout as it pushed forward with its turnaround plans.<\/p>\n Despite missing out on the bonus, his total pay packet for the year jumped by 48% to \u00a31.7 million, compared with \u00a31.1 million a year earlier.<\/p>\n His annual pay deal was approved by shareholders \u2013 98% of whom backed the company\u2019s remuneration report<\/strong> \u2013 along with the meeting\u2019s 20 other motions.<\/p>\n Despite holding back the bonus from all staff this year, the retailer\u2019s board decided to give Rowe a \u00a324,500 pay rise<\/strong> to his basic salary of \u00a3810,000 \u2013 although the company pointed out he has not received a basic pay rise since 2016.<\/p>\n The company also faced questioning from investors on its recent joint venture with online retail technology business Ocado.<\/strong><\/p>\n It secured a \u00a3750 million deal to buy half of Ocado\u2019s UK retail business earlier this year but some retail analysts have raised concerns over the move.<\/p>\n M&S received shareholder support for the deal after an 85.1% take-up for its \u00a3600 million investor cash-call<\/strong> to finance the deal.<\/p>\n In May, the company said underlying pre-tax profits fell 9.9% to \u00a3523.2 million for the year to 30 March, down 9.9% from \u00a3580.9 million the previous year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":134988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10585,6,10494],"tags":[11842,3211,9998],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n